Connections
by Hollyflash
Summary: AU. Co-written with Lovewritingstories. Danny's life is changed forever after an accident leaves him with a ghost named Prince stuck to his side. Now, in order to protect the lives of his loved ones, Danny must enlist the help of his friends as he learns to get along with the entity connected to him and master the powers that came with him to fight ghosts, humans, and himself.
1. Accident Prone (Part 1)

Hello! I am Hollyflash, otherwise known as This-is-my-fourth-multi-chapter-story-why-the-heck-don't-I-have-a-system-for-Author's-Notes-yet? I'm joined by my angst and sibling bonding loving friend, LoveWritingStories, as we bring you our second co-written story! Hopefully we don't kill half the cast this time! Keyword there; _hopefully._

Either way, you'll all still probably hate us by the time this story is over. ^-^

So, Connections is a mixture of my second and tenth plot bunnies for Danny Phantom. This makes it part AU series rewrite and part Oh-crap-I-broke-Clockwork. I've been tossing both ideas around for over a year and a half, and when LoveWritingStories watched Danny Phantom originally to make me shut up about it, I told her about what then were barely the bones of this story. And much to my surprise, she loved it! Together we fleshed out the plot, the characters, and the background. And together, we'll finish this story or die trying.

Wow, that sounded so cheesy. And why do I get the feeling the second option is more likely..?

Anyways, onto the AU element! Well, in all honesty, there's more than one. I'll cover two; within the Modernized AU I use, the story starts on March 2, 2014. And as for the second one, well, within the main Timeline of this story Halfas will not form from portals. However, something else is possible instead; a bond between a human and ghost, who gain the power to share a body. This is known as a connection and will be explained in greater detail later on.

No, this isn't really a Pitch Pearl story. It's more so Oreo Cookie; Pitch Pearl's platonic counterpart which is also known as Phriendship. Other than that, there really aren't any overarching ships… Well, unless you count Canon ones. And a lot of OC x OC.

And for the series rewrite, well, it's mostly done so everyone can be treated as actual people and grow. I'll leave it at that until we get to that part in the story.

**Obvious universal disclaimer for obvious reasons;** we do not own any of the real-life places and things named. Any and all original characters are either ours or used with permission. LoveWritingStories and I do not own Danny Phantom. If we did, the series would've gotten pretty dark pretty fa-

Wait, this is part series rewrite. Eheheheheheh…

**Chapter Warning:** Use of strong language.

Onwards, before the length of this AN kills your eyes even more than the AU!

* * *

**Chapter 1;**

"You can't change it, you know. You can't change the past. They taught us better."

"I know, I know... But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try."

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was supposed to be simple.

Get in to the building; defeat their opponent, head back out to bask in the glory. Simple.

It hadn't been; not at all. They'd underestimated their opponent, yet again. They always seemed to do that.

Danny Fenton felt his gut twist, and it was hard to breath. He'd messed up; this was the end. He wasn't going to make it out of this. But in no way did that mean he wouldn't take their opponent with him, and a smile twitched onto his face as the curse he'd placed had taken hold.

"Danny!" He could hear his friend- his team, too- shout out to him. His best friend was by his side within moments, shouting for help.

"No," Danny shook his head. "Don't. It's okay."

"No, it isn't!" His best friend shouted, "Don't leave me with these psychos!"

"Gee," One of their teammates spoke up, "_Thanks._"

"You'll be okay, its better this way." Danny replied, lifting his head to look at their opponent. "I set up a curse. I may go down... But they're going with me."

The team turned to watch their opponent fall to their knees, and there were cheers.

"...For the greater good," His best friend muttered, and Danny smiled, "Seriously dude? We've come so far; why'd you have to choose now to be self-sacrificing? Why now?"

"...Why not?" Danny replied, and watched the small green line steadily be replaced with more red. "I may be dying, but there's no way I'm going down without a fight. Besides, I'll be back. This is me."

There was only a tiny bit of green left. Everyone said their goodbyes; his best friend's sounded almost tearful. Danny wasn't sure whether to laugh, or to cry with them.

And then, mere seconds before the curse would finish their opponent off, Danny's world cut to black.

The recently turned fourteen-years-old boy frowned, blinked twice, and shook his computer monitor. "Oh no. No, no, no! ARGH!" He screamed, throwing his headset across the room. "And I was just about to defeat Chaos, too! I was going to get my D00M Team to the next level!" He placed his head in his hands, slumping forward in his chair. "I swear, if this is because Mom and Dad are playing with their _stupid_ ghost portal again..."

Beside him, his phone buzzed. Danny hesitated for a moment before he picked it up, confirming what he had suspected. He had a text, from his best friend Tucker. It read '_Dude. All that drama and then you just log out before you die? I feel so loved.'_

Danny rolled his eyes and texted back; '_Sorry. Parents are probably playing with the portal again.'_

Tucker waited a minute before replying; '_Oh look, your curse died when you didn't. Chaos just murdered us all. That's the third time this week he's specifically gone for us. Now who will we play with? I swear we must be bad luck or something.'_

Danny frowned, '_Not a clue, Tuck. BRB, I'm going to see if I can go get power.'_

Danny stood, stretched, and made his way out of his room. He could smell food, and desperately hoped it was his sister cooking. He preferred dinner when it didn't eat his laptop's charger or gerbil or anything of his really.

Much to his relief, it was his fifteen- nearly sixteen-years-old- sister who was cooking. Jasmine, better known as Jazz, had her hair in a ponytail and was stirring something in a pot. "Hey Danny. Hungry? The noodles will be ready in a few minutes."

"Very," Danny replied, and heard someone shout from the downstairs lab. "Are Mom and Dad still working on their portal?"

"Yep."

"And you're still convinced ghosts aren't real."

"They aren't, Danny. Life ends with death."

"Well, that sucks. I always wanted to be a zombie." Danny shrugged, making his way to the basement door. "I'm going to talk to Mom and Dad about keeping the power on. Let's hope the portal doesn't blow up the house and kill me."

"Don't bet on it, little brother." Jazz mumbled, not looking away from what she was cooking. "But be careful anyways, okay?"

"Aren't I always?"

"No, not really."

"I feel so loved," Leaving the conversation at that, Danny made his way downstairs. Towards sparks, shouting, technical terms, and a giant hole in the family's wall which he was pretty sure had violated some sort of building code. He wasn't sure which one, but building what his parents currently were had to be a violation of some sort.

Danny poked his head in, and froze. The lab was a mess; green goop was everywhere, things had exploded, the only light was coming from their 'portal' and a few assorted battery-powered lights, exposed wires lay all around, and... _It feels like the black market down here. All we need now is some fast-talking guy trying to buy my organs._

"Danny!" His parents turned off their blowtorches and pulled down the hoods of their jumpsuits. They stepped forward, smiling, as his father, Jack, asked, "What are you doing down here, son?"

"Power outage," Danny replied, as if it would explain the entire situation. And it did; his mom, Maddie, nodded before turning to Jack.

"I told you that connecting the main control to the power source was a bad idea! It didn't have anywhere to go, Jack!"

"My bad, Mads!" Jack rubbed the back of his neck, a trait of awkwardness that Danny had picked up from his father. "I should disconnect it, shouldn't I?"

"That would be a good idea," Maddie replied, and Jack moved back towards the portal to mess with some technological thing that Danny honestly didn't care about. Space was his thing; technology was Tucker's.

"So, sweetie," It took Danny a second to register that his mom was talking to him. "Did you get all your homework done? You're in high school now, you can't slack off on your work!"

"I know, I know." Danny replied, making a dismissive motion with his hand. _I shouldn't, though. You're the ones who put me in a year early._ "I just need to finish my book report for English, but after that I'm all good."

Jack apparently finished whatever he was doing, because the lights came back on. Danny lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness, and made a face. _I wonder if I can claim this blinded me and get out of gym._

"Fixed it, Mads!" Jack looked proud of himself, and Maddie patted him on the shoulder.

"Good job, sweetie." She produced a small baked good from her jumpsuit pocket and handed it to her husband, "Have a cookie."

Jack smiled and shoved it in his mouth. _Ew. Chew with your mouth closed, Dad. _"Maddie, I also connected the red wires, and I think it looks like the blueprints! The portal is complete!"

"Really?!" Maddie's face lit up and she rushed over to their device, and Danny took a step back. _Okay. I need to get out of here and warn Jazz. Then we can go out for supper and conveniently miss this portal failing to work. Ta-da, problem solved, they can get normal jobs and I don't have to see them disappointed. _"Danny, could you get your sister? We're going to plug it in!"

_Crud, I wasn't fast enough. _"Uh..." _Think Fenton, think. You can get out of this. Homework? No, won't work. Didn't hear them? Won't work either. Darn it._

"Danny? It's ready." Jazz called, and the younger teen turned to see his sister coming downstairs. He desperately motioned for her to leave, but Jazz didn't take the hint. "Danny, what's wrong?"

"Jasmine, perfect timing!" Maddie looked back at her two children, either ignoring or unaware of their desperate desire to leave. "Could you turn the ghost shield on around you and your brother? We wouldn't want the two of you to suffer from Ecto-contamination, would we?"

Danny shot his sister an apologetic look, and Jazz just shook her head. The two had learned at a young age to just humor their parents when they were forced to watch their inventions. If they wanted them to go under a green dome-thing which they could walk right through? Fine, whatever. They knew it wouldn't keep anything out, no matter what their parents said.

"Of course, Mom!" Jazz replied, forcing a smile which fell the second Maddie turned away. "Come on, Danny." She gave a small sigh, "Let's just get this over with."

The two of them moved to a corner of the lab, and Jazz entered the number code which would trigger the 'ghost shield.' Danny watched with a small smile as it came down from the ceiling to cover them, before sticking his hand through. His parents' lab may creep him out, but he did have to admit that the stuff they built was pretty cool.

Of course, that was ignoring the fact that a majority of it could cause him to desperately need a trip to the emergency room.

His parents were standing side by side, and Jack had two ends of a cord in his hands. "Maddie, would you like to say a few words?"

"Of course, Jack!" Maddie smiled, and Danny slouched. _We're going to be here for a while. _"Children, standing in front of you is our life's work." _Please shoot me. Repeatedly._ "It was spawned from a mishap in college, when one student told an old friend of ours that ghosts didn't exist. Well that friend, your father, and I set out to prove them wrong, and punch a hole into the dimension where those ghosts hang around. Unfortunately, we don't have... Well we don't have his contact information anymore, but I'm sure he would love to be here to see that dream come true!"

_Mom, I really don't care about your college buddies. Please, please just plug that stupid thing in so that I can go eat already._

"Jasmine Marie Fenton," Maddie continued, unaware of her son's annoyed thoughts. "Daniel James Fenton, the two of you have the honor of being among the first human beings to see a portal to the Ghost Zone captured for the purpose of science! Jack, would you do the honors?"

"On the count of three," Jack was smiling, and Danny had to admit, as much as he really didn't care about the 'Ghost Zone' and wanted his parents to get real jobs, their enthusiasm was contagious. He found himself wondering what a portal to that place would look like, a smile creeping its way onto his face. "One," _Would it be white? Or black, maybe? Green? Nah, green's a stupid color. _"Two..."_ Would you be able to see the other side from this one? I wonder what ghosts look like... This'll be so cool! Wait, what? Okay Fenton, settle down... _

Despite his inner monologue, Danny didn't manage to stop himself from whispering "Three."

"**BONZI!"** His father's voice echoed around the lab as he pushed the two plugs together. Danny leaned forward, eyes wide as the portal flashed, sparked, made a buzzing sound...

...And died.

"Well," Jazz spoke up, "That was... Rather expected actually. Is the upcoming 'I told you so' appropriate yet?"

Jack blinked twice and unplugged the cords, "I said bonzi!" He plugged them back in, but the action was the same. Jack unplugged them again, and forced them together again. And again. And again. "Bonzi bonzi bonzi-"

"Jack," Maddie broke in, pulling the cord away from her husband. Danny wasn't sure, but he could've sworn he heard her voice crack. "Jack Fenton, you stop that!"

"But Maddie," Jack's voice did crack, Danny was sure of it. "It has to work! If we keep trying, it-"

"No, Jack!" Maddie nearly shouted, ripping the cord from her husband's hands and throwing it off to the side. "It didn't work. We were wrong. ...It's always been wrong. The Ghost Zone isn't real. It was all for nothing; we... We were wrong."

It didn't register with Danny that Jazz was pulling him upstairs until he almost hit his head on the corner of the doorway. He could still hear his parents arguing in the basement, and even after Jazz closed the door and all but pushed him into a chair by the table, how destroyed they had sounded stuck in his mind.

"Jazz," His voice shook, "Are Mom and Dad going to be okay?"

Jazz placed a plate of noodles in front of him but didn't offer a reply.

"Jazz," Danny had more force in his voice, "Are Mom and Dad going to be okay?"

His sister set down a plate of noodles for herself before looking up with a smile that Danny knew wasn't genuine. "Of course, Danny! Would you like anything to drink?"

.-.-.-.-.-.

As the Master of Time, Clockwork was not to make mistakes. He was supposed to be a higher power, who kept everything running- despite having hundreds of alternate Timelines to look after- without any interruptions to the flow. He was supposed to save everyone he could, since his core power focused on life, and stop wars, because of those started by the ghosts he had formed beside. He was supposed to be confident, since he was the only Ancient who hadn't gone into hiding after the Time War. He was supposed to be strong, because for years it was believed he was the only Servant of Time to survive Pariah's attack on them in that war. He was supposed to be a mentor, because he had been forced to teach other ghosts- his Time Apprentices, as the Observants called them- techniques to control their powers. He was supposed to act as a parental figure, because of the customs Pariah Dark had put in place, and act as companion to an old friend who hated him, because an Ancient had found her and so _kindly_ brought her back.

But Clockwork made mistakes, and he made many. He was a horrible higher power. He saved so few, and was forced to watch dangerous battles nearly every day where he could save nobody. His confidence, especially in himself, was minimal. And his so-called 'strength' was an illusion provided by his status as Master of Time, and power of Time Manipulation. He was a horrible mentor, parental figure, and friend. Though, he doubted that he even counted as the last one anymore.

He failed them all, but nobody seemed to want to admit it, because they were all fooled by his title and staff. Nobody would focus on his mistakes, except for the ones who hated him. There was his old 'friend', who was quick to point out everything he'd done wrong, the Royal Sympathizers, and the Observants.

_Oh, the Observants._ He hated them. He hated that by being the Master of Time he had been forced to follow their orders, do the jobs they told him to, and not be able to help the ones who needed it. He hated how they had held on to something he'd said at his lowest and used it against him. Clockwork hated everything about them.

He was a Life Core. He couldn't let people die, it went against his very being. But by following the Observants' orders he always screwed up and he always did. Words could not describe how much he hated it.

Though, it was possible he hated himself for it more.

The Observants knew it, too. They knew how much he hated death. That's why, Clockwork had to admit, if it came down to it he could kill someone and get away with it. They would never expect it was him. A Life Core, committing _murder?_ Such an idea was ridiculous, absolutely preposterous! It would never happen!

_It should never happen._

He didn't want to- in fact, the very idea of killing anyone sickened him- but he didn't see any other option. It was either he killed the boy, or he would be forced to be even more of a tool for the Observants than Clockwork himself was. Up until a year ago, the Master of Time would've never imagined such a thing to be possible.

However, now the boy was caught up in a curse he would wish on no human, ghost, or anything within the universe. But to kill him...? There had to be a better way!

_But... If there isn't... If this is the only way..._

Clockwork closed his eyes, changing to his child form as he tapped the staff against his head. "Peter? I know you can't hear me, but... I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to do, how else to help him... I'm so sorry."

"...Um, are you done yet or should I come back later?"

Clockwork turned back, immediately taking his adult form. "This had better be important, Stopwatch." _I swear, if that boy sneaks up on me one more time I'm tying a bell around his neck. It's unnatural how easily he does that. And what in the world is that on his cheek? Is that a bruise? ...Nope. Not touching that._

The ghost- Stopwatch, one of the many ghosts who Clockwork had chosen to take in over destroying- shrugged, rubbing his bruised cheek. "Hourglass wants to know if we can go roaming around the Ghost Zone tomorrow but doesn't want to ask because she thinks you're mad at her. Are you mad at her?"

"What? No," Clockwork raised an eyebrow, "Why would she assume that?"

"Uh, because you've kind of been a jackass lately...? Like, it's more so than you normally are. It's creepy." Stopwatch crossed his arms, leaning against a door frame. "But can we? I promise to keep her safe and not let her be seen and all that stuff she has to go by for some weird reason."

The Time Master was silent for a moment. _Oh yes, because I have every reason to trust someone with suspicious skills and injuries._ "I suppose so. But if this is an excuse for you to hurt her in any way, I swear on the powers above..."

"I know, I know," He straightened up, "It'll be the last thing I ever do and I'll be nothing but ectoplasm in a baggie which you'll mail to the Observants. This isn't my first time taking your charge places. I know what you say, and that you won't actually do it." He smiled, turning to leave. "After all, you wouldn't hurt me."

Clockwork ignored him. Stopwatch was a nuisance, despite his powers of reality manipulation and obsession with revenge, but nothing more. Clockwork's so-called 'charge' on the other hand, was an elegant young lady who could do much better in terms of friends than Stopwatch. But she could take care of herself. At least, Clockwork liked to hope she could.

Besides, Clockwork had something bigger to worry about. _I'm sorry, Peter. As much as you cared for him... I don't have any other choice. He's caught in a fate worse than death, and I have to help him. It's all my fault, after all. And if I can't find anything better to do... I'm sorry._

_Please forgive me._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Would you like some fries with your salt?"

"Shut up, Tucker."

Danny's best friend, Tucker, sat down on the other side of the table. He set his tray filled with a school lunch down, and looked back towards Danny. "Wow. Someone's in a bad mood."

"No, really?" Danny snapped, looking back down at his lunch as he tore open another salt package to dump onto his small mound of fries. "What gave it away?"

"Well for one, you used one of those self-defence things your mom taught you against Dash this morning. You never do anything like that; you just turn on the sass and hope he goes away. Plus you never texted me back last night. I was so lonely I started doing _math!_" Tucker leaned forward, "What's wrong, dude? You can tell me."

Danny swirled a fry around in his salt mound before shaking his head. "It didn't work."

"What didn't work?"

"My parents' stupid ghost portal!" He groaned, placing a hand on his forehead and letting it slide down to his neck for a second. "My Mom and Dad are messed up, Tucker. They really are. My Dad... You know how everything's a joke to him, right? I think he broke last night. Even Jazz is worried, and she isn't trying to hide it anymore."

"Oh, yikes," Tucker frowned, and reached over to place a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Dude, I'm sure they'll be fine."

"I'm not," Danny replied, pushing his friend's hand away as the other teen leaned back onto his own side of the table. "I've never seen them like that, Tucker. I... I'm kind of scared they might, you know..."

"Who might what?"

Danny looked over his shoulder, one hand immediately going to the back of his neck. "S-Sam! Hi!"

The Goth female, Sam, placed her tray down and sat a little ways away from Danny. Danny honestly wasn't sure what to refer to her as in his mind, since he wasn't sure if they were friends or not, but she did eat lunch with him and Tucker most days, and she did sit with him in all the classes they had together... "Hi, Danny. Carnivore guy whose name I forgot."

"Plant lady." Tucker waved a hand, lifting his carton of milk towards his mouth. "Danny's folks had one of their ghost things fail last night, and they didn't take it well. He thinks they might get a D-word-which-he-doesn't-want-to-say."

Danny winced.

"Oh. Okay...?" Sam shrugged, a popped a strawberry from her tray into her mouth. She chewed it for a moment, swallowed, and looked over at Danny. "I don't see what you're so worked up about. Look, your parents may be wackadoodles-" Tucker snorted into his milk, and Sam paused to send him a death glare. "As I was saying, they may be crazy- better, Meathead? But they do love each other. I know that, the janitor knows that, Lancer knows that, the whole town knows that. They don't keep it a secret."

"Thanks," Danny replied sarcastically, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I tried. That's more than he did." She motioned to Tucker, who was currently stuffing his face with a burger. "And besides, it's a good kind of crazy! It sets the apart from everyone. I don't see how that could be a bad thing."

"Tell that to Dash, maybe it'll get him to leave me alone for a week." Danny muttered, quickly eating a couple of fries. "Speaking of that idiot, where is he? He usually shows up to bug me during lunch."

"Do you think he's avoiding you because you made him punch the locker?" Tucker asked, and Danny shrugged.

"Nah, after that he shoved me in it and the janitor broke me out like always." He shrugged, "Maybe I'm just lucky today."

"He sits by me in Health, you know." Sam spoke up, "His wrist was swollen, but he was pretending it wasn't. That thing's bruise was _ugly._ His friend- that weird Asian guy, whatever his name is- came to talk to the teacher and panicked when he noticed. It was hilarious. He literally flipped a desk to get to him. Dash was so red."

"Why would he be in your class? Isn't he a year older than us...?" Tucker raised an eyebrow, and Danny shrugged.

"He's in English with us too, Tuck. So is the Asian guy. Maybe they're just really, really stupid."

"Speaking of stupid," Sam leaned forward, "Can I join your group for that science thing? Mine is full of lazy idiots who won't do anything."

Danny made a face as he was reminded of the project he had been fighting to push from his mind. "You mean the Science Fair? I guess. But we don't know what we're doing for it. Tucker wants to build some sort of technological thing, if that interests you at all...?"

Sam shrugged and ate another piece of fruit. "Best suggestion I've heard in a while. I wanted to do something to do with the environment, but hey, that'll work too. If you guys aren't busy, we should work on at least some part of it after school."

"Not at my house," Tucker said, quickly drinking some milk before he continued. "My Dad's friend's family is visiting. The religious ones."

"Oh! You mean the ones who met my parents and held up a cross?" Danny made a face, "Yikes."

"Yeah," Tucker nodded and motioned to Sam. "I don't even want to know what they'd do to black eggs and ham over there."

Sam rolled her eyes, "If you're going to reference Dr. Seuss, at least do it right. And my house is off limits, my parents would flip if I brought home one boy, let alone two. Though, I'd love to hear what my Grandma had to say... Danny, any chance your parents might let us plan there? If it's not a problem, that is. It's okay if it is."

Danny looked over at Sam, staring into her eyes for a few moments before his hands were on the back of his neck again. "I uh, maybe? I'll text my mom."

"Aww," Tucker cooed, lifting up his phone and snapping a picture. "I think I found a new real-life OTP!"

"...Please no," Sam replied, but Danny didn't say anything. He just swirled one of his fries in his salt mound before reaching over and dropping it into Tucker's milk.

"Oh, gross!" Tucker made a face and pushed his milk away from him, "Dude, keep your salt fetish away from me!"

"I don't have a salt fetish!" Danny's face turned bright red, and he looked over at Sam. "Really, I don't! He used the word wrong!"

"Right," Sam looked unamused, and looked over her shoulder. "Hold on, I think someone said my name. I'll be right back." She stood up and walked into a crowd of people. Danny looked back to Tucker, who was making a heart shape with his hands.

"Tucker, I'm going to hurt you."

"You like her! Like, _like_ like!" His friend was smiling, "And she likes you back! It was meant to be!"

"No, I don't _like_ like her!" Danny threw a fry toward Tucker, which he caught and popped into his mouth. "I... Friend-like her! And she friend-likes me back! Not everything has to do with romance, you know!"

"Oh, dude, you're smitten. Guess this means it's time to put away my rainbows." Tucker said, and made a face. "Also, tone down on the salt. _Yuck! _But this is cute!"

"Tucker, I'm going to spell it out for you, okay?" Danny leaned towards him, "N-O. No. I don't have a crush on her. Now shut up or I'm going to bring you over to my house and tell my dad you want to learn how to hunt ghosts."

Tucker narrowed his eyes, "You wouldn't."

Danny leaned back, smirking. "Try m- oh crap!" His voice shot higher almost into a scream as he leaned back too far, flailing his arms as he nearly fell off the bench. He managed to throw his hands forward and grab onto the table, pulling himself back into a normal position as his face flushed bright red.

"Dude," Tucker said, rolling his eyes, "You better hope she's into dorks. Because otherwise, you don't have a chance."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Hourglass had nearly doubled over laughing, the hood which often covered her face having fallen back. "Do it again! Do it again!"

Stopwatch raised the stick he'd been holding and spoke once again in a low mocking voice. "I am the Master of Time. I am powerful. I am- DON'T TOUCH MY TIMELINES! HEY YOU, AWAY FROM CANON!"

Clockwork's charge was laughing so hard she lost flight for a second, and Stopwatch swooped down to grab her. He caught her bridal style, dropping the stick onto an island below them.

The physically thirteen-year-old ghost blushed a bright green. "Uh, Stopwatch? You can put me down now."

"Oh! Sorry," Stopwatch copied her blush, and moved quickly down to the island. He set her down, and Hourglass brushed a free strand of blond hair out of her face as she pulled her hood back up. Stopwatch looked away, running a hand through his hair. "So..."

"So..." Hourglass trailed off, playing with the hair in her side braid. She opened her mouth to say something, but slammed it shut as she noticed something behind Stopwatch. She squinted, and then her eyes widened with realization. "...Oh no."

"What?" Stopwatch turned to see what his friend had spotted, but didn't get a chance to before she pushed the both of them between two rocks and suddenly the two physically teenage ghosts were close.

_Too close._

"Close your eyes and stay quiet," Hourglass whispered, attempting to cover Stopwatch's face with her hands. "Please. _Please._"

"Why...?" Stopwatch asked, pushing her hand down. His eyes locked on a ghost a little ways away, with a familiar black and white color scheme. His body tensed, and an almost wild look appeared in his eyes.

"Stopwatch?" Hourglass' red eyes widened as her friend pushed her out and shot after the ghost he'd spotted. "Not him. Oh, anyone but him." She pulled her hood down more to cover her face, and flew off towards the two ghosts.

Stopwatch, meanwhile, had caught up to the white-haired specter his friend had attempted to hide them from. A smirk appeared on his face as violet ectoplasm coated his right hand, and he tossed it forward in a beam. The other ghost looked over his shoulder, green eyes widening as he tossed up a shield of blue ectoplasm. Stopwatch's attack bounced off it, and the other ghost burst through light show which happened as a result. He swung a fist, punching Stopwatch in his left cheek. The blue skinned ghost tumbled back, bumping into Hourglass. The wild look in his eyes faded, and he barely set up another shield in time to stop the other ghost's bright green ectoplasmic rays.

"Oh, crap!" Stopwatch shouted, throwing up another shield as the white-haired ghost rushed towards them and barely stopped in time to avoid hitting it face-first. "Dude, I am so sorry! I thought you were someone else!"

The much more human-like ghost rubbed his head, glaring at both Stopwatch and Hourglass. "Fine, whatever. What are you two doing here?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Hourglass spoke up, making her voice sound lower than it actually was. "And you would have no choice but to answer, _Prince_. Be happy I do not believe in those methods."

Prince bit his lip, and Stopwatch blinked in surprise.

"Wait, Hourglass," He turned to face his friend as she pulled her hood down some more. "Who is that? Is he an actual prince? Is there royalty out here I don't know about?" Prince wrinkled his nose as he averted his eyes, Hourglass played with her braid, and Stopwatch looked between the two of them. "Oh! So that's why Clockwork's been moody! You see, that explains _a lot. _Doesn't make much sense, but it still explains a lot!"

_What is he doing there?!_

"Wow, an idiot." Prince crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, floating a little above Stopwatch. "Cool, I haven't met one of them for nearly a year."

"Wow, that's rude." Stopwatch copied Prince's motions, floating up to his height. "Look, I don't know you Sir-"

"Sir?" Prince raised an eyebrow, "I'm not _that_ old, kid."

"Don't you _dare_ call me that!" Stopwatch snapped, pointing a finger in Prince's face. Prince leaned back and looked rather annoyed. "You hear me, you royal scum? If you do that again I'm dragging you off to the Far Frozen to deal with Rebel extremists!"

"Okay," Hourglass quickly pushed Stopwatch back and grabbed onto Prince's wrist, pulling her hood down some more. "That's enough you two. Stopwatch, go home. I'm taking Prince back to the Observants." She started flying off, towards a metal hoop with a small ball of white sparks in it.

Prince's eyes widened and he attempted to pull his wrist away from Hourglass' grip. "No, don't! Please! Please, I just got out; don't make me go back there! _Please!_"

Hourglass ignored him, though her flight did slow down slightly.

Stopwatch, who had been staring at the ball of sparks, froze as he watched Hourglass fly past it. He noticed that the Ghost Zone seemed to be being pulled into it, and he recognized what that meant.

"Not her, anyone but her. Hourglass, move!" His voice climbed to a shout, rushing forward and pulling her away from Prince. He shielded her with himself as everything suddenly seemed to move in slow motion; Prince's eyes widened as he noticed what was right beside him, let out a surprised shout of fear as he attempted to fly away from it, and four screams blended into one as the ball burst into a portal, consuming the young ghost who hadn't been able to escape...

"**Time out!"**

Clockwork blinked twice, staring at the scene which had just played out in front of him. It couldn't have happened. He'd just wanted to look in on how Hourglass was fairing, but this... It was impossible! The chances were next to impossible, this...

_This isn't what I wanted. Anything but this._

Clockwork turned his head slowly, looking down at the staff he held in his hands. It meant power, it meant success...

He threw it across the room, switching to his child form as he landed on the floor. The staff skid across the floor and out of the room, an act that the Observants would likely consider treason.

Clockwork didn't care; he'd failed. Why was he surprised? It's not like he ever did anything right anymore.

It's not like he'd done anything right for the past twenty years.

"I'm sorry," Clockwork spoke softly, "I'm so sorry... Peter, Prince, Hafia, Mary, Gwen... I am so, so sorry..."

There was the sound of footsteps, and the staff was dropped by his side. A moment later, the ghost spoke. "Mind telling me why you interrupted my baking to have a breakdown?"

_Of course. _Of course she would be the one to come in, quite possibly with the intention of hurting him. And somewhere in the back of his mind, Clockwork knew he deserved nothing less. "I'm sorry," He whispered, "I should've stopped this. I should've realized something would happen... I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" She snapped, obviously annoyed. "Ruining my baking? I spent hours trying to get that damn soufflé recipe right."

"No! Well, yes, but... I am so, so sorry..." Clockwork's hand twitched towards the staff, wrapping shakily around the handle. He pointed it towards the Window through Time he'd been viewing, and once again his voice almost shook. "I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes, watching as Clockwork caused the scene in front of them to rewind. "Stop saying sorry! What did you fuck up now? Because I swear to god, if we have to deal with another Spiral…"

Clockwork wouldn't meet her eyes, and just motioned to the Window through Time. He let the scene play, and could only imagine how she would be reacting. Probably with anger at first, since he'd let Stopwatch spend time with Hourglass where neither could easily keep an eye on them. It would then be replaced with confusion as Prince appeared, and then... He wasn't sure. But Clockwork knew it couldn't end well for anyone, especially him.

"Hourglass? You let Hourglass out? She could have been killed! She could have been seen! And she's with that _Rebel!_" She shouted, not quite understanding what she was seeing. Her expression changed when she saw Prince. "What? What is he doing...? Wait, what?" There was a pause as she processed what she had seen- the young ghost being caught in a portal. "...Is he...?" She didn't finish, the words were too hard, to foreign, for her to speak.

"I'm sorry, I should've seen this. I should've stopped this." Clockwork spoke again, time falling back in place around them. Clockwork lost hold on his child form and shifted to his adult one, but still wouldn't make eye contact with the now physically younger ghost. "Ghosts in that Timeline don't survive that unless they have human blood to latch onto. What are the chances he did?" Clockwork found the strength to lift his head, and looked up at the ghost who had once been his friend. "I'm so sorry. I should've stopped this; I should've realized what was going to happen... I'm _so_ sorry."

She stared at him for a moment. Memories of when she would have trusted him with her life floated across her mind. Those days were long gone. "Fix it," She said, ignoring that part of herself that held reason. "Go back, and fix it."

"I can't," Clockwork replied, doing his best to keep eye contact. "It's in the past. I _can't_ change the past. I have _tried._ You know that. Do you think I'd be this upset if I could?! Do you think I'd be this torn up if I hadn't _destroyed_ him?!"

Her words were harsh, her eyes had no sympathy. "I don't care. Bring him back. Find a way to fix this mess. Or you'll have to answer to more than just the Observants." With that, she turned around and left.

Clockwork's voice caught in his throat as once again he called out one last desperate apology, "I'm sorry!" His head fell, and Clockwork found himself staring at the floor. "I'm so sorry, Gwen..."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Ow!"

Danny let out a hiss of pain, bringing his left hand close to his face. As he noticed Sam's and Tucker's questioning looks, he supplied an answer. "Paper cut. Jesus, these things hurt worse than being electrocuted..."

Sam blinked twice before looking back down at her science textbook. "Not even going to ask."

"So," Tucker spoke up, "Do we know what we're doing for our science project, or are we just going make a crappy PowerPoint?"

Danny closed his own textbook, lying back on his bed beside his friend. On the desk chair a little ways away, Sam closed her own in effort to stop a few loose papers from falling out. "I don't know, why not? It's not like my parents are going to let us steal stuff from their lab of disaster-" He sat up, smiling. "Wait. Wait, maybe they will. Who wants to come with me to find out where my parents are?"

"...Sure?" Sam spoke up, shrugging. "And what is this magical lab of disaster?"

Danny stood, pulling Tucker up with him. "We're going to see if my parents have blueprints for anything that works. And the lab's just my basement."

Sam shrugged and stood to meet the boys. Together, the trio traveled downstairs into the kitchen. "Mom? Dad?"

"Danny," Tucker motioned to the fridge and pulled a piece of paper off of it. "They're at the store."

"What?" Danny frowned, and Tucker handed him the paper. Just as his friend had said, it was a note to him and Jazz from their parents, saying they had gone to the store and didn't know when they would be back. "Great. That's just wonderful! And Sam has to be home in half an hour, too! This is why we shouldn't have spent the first three hours watching horror movies, guys!"

"So," Sam spoke up, distracting the two boys from their paper as she stared at a metal door. "Is this the entrance to the lab of disaster and doom?" She tried the handle, finding it was locked. "You wouldn't happen to have a key, would you Danny?"

"Sam, we aren't going in there." Danny took a step towards her, Tucker following. "Seriously, like ninety percent of the stuff down there could end up with us having to go to emergency care. And I'm pretty sure none of our parents want to pay for that."

"Aw, come on!" Sam groaned, and reached into her hair. She pulled out a bobby pin and inserted it into the lock. "Okay, this'll work."

"What do you think this is? Some weird fanfiction?" Tucker rolled his eyes, "There's no way a bobby pin is going to open a..." He trailed off as the door swung open, and Sam looked back at him with a proud smile. "Okay, maybe this is a fanfiction."

"Oh yes, because we're totally fictional characters who have _fanfiction_ written about us." Danny shook his head and turned back to Sam, "Sam, we can't go in there. My parents will kill me!"

"You'll be fine! And come on, your parents are scientists! You want to cheer them up, don't you? What better way than this: letting them know how much you love their work?" Sam didn't wait for an answer, and instead started down the stairs.

"Sam!" Danny groaned, and exchanged a look with Tucker. "Stay here. Watch for my parents or Jazz. Don't let them know we're in there." Swallowing the lump in his throat, Danny placed a hand the railing and started down the stairs.

"Danny," Sam was asking once he reached the bottom, "Why is there a hole in the wall?"

"It was a thing my parents did that didn't work." Danny looked around the lab, sidestepping to avoid a table. "Sam, we need to get out of here. This place is creepy and dangerous. Plus my parents will freak if we break anything... And we'll probably die..."

"I'm not going to break anything!" Sam protested and looked away. "Look, my science mark kind of died during biology, okay? I need something awesome and out of the ordinary to even hope I'll be able to pass, and what we were talking about upstairs cut it. I can't fail Danny, I just can't." A pause, "Can I at least take some pictures? Please? I know I can think something up if I just have some prompts, and if you have even a quarter of your parents' brains you and Tucker will be able to help me make it amazing!"

"...Okay, fine," Danny groaned, giving in to her flattery as he looked towards the metal frame of the portal. "Just don't touch anything, okay? And if they end up online I'll know it was you."

"Just because I'm Goth doesn't mean I don't have a soul, Danny. That's just a stupid rumor. I'm not going to do that." She smiled and turned away from him, apparently reaching a hand somewhere on her front. When she turned back to face Danny, she held some sort of touchscreen phone in her hand. "Okay, what down here do you think Tucker might be able to work with?"

_Wait, she doesn't have pockets. Where did she pull that out of? ...On second thought, I don't want to know. _"Uh, I wouldn't know. I kind of avoid this part of my house." Sam looked confused, so Danny elaborated. "When I was a baby my sister and I broke into here and knocked over a bunch of ectoplasm. Apparently that can burn you or something when it's liquid, I don't really know. My parents flipped and we were banned from here until I was six, but by then I was old enough to realize that the lab is dangerous and full of stuff that could kill me. My sister decided we would ignore the lab after that and I just kind of went with it."

"Huh," Sam shrugged and looked down at her phone, "Well this is just-" She cut herself off as something crashed on the stairs and Tucker scrambled down it, panting. "...Apparently full of good timing."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Did you just fall down the stairs?"

"...Maybe," Tucker panted, leaning on the wall for support. "Your sister's in the kitchen. I think she saw me, and then I tripped."

"Oh, wonderful," Danny crossed his arms. "Thanks Tucker, now the second we come out she'll be waiting to lecture us."

"On the bright side," Sam smiled, "He's here now. Tucker, what in this place do you think you could build?"

Danny watched his friends move around the lab, looking at and taking pictures of various inventions. He stayed back, catching bits of their conversation but not taking part in it. The lab was _dangerous,_ and they shouldn't be in it. Tucker had only ever seen it once before, when they were eight and playing hide-and-seek. He'd gotten lectured by Danny's parents by hiding in there, so he had to know how much they _really_ shouldn't be in here...

"Danny, dude!" Tucker's laugh cut that thought off, and Danny looked over just in time to see Tucker throw a white and black jumpsuit at him. "You have one of those?! Aw, you can match your folks!"

"Shut up, Tucker!" Danny snapped, hiding his blush by holding the suit up to his face. "It's not like I ever wear the stupid thing, anyway!"

Sam shrugged and held up her phone, "Well, then come pose for pictures with it! Come on, please?"

"...Uh, sure?" Danny replied, folding the jumpsuit over his arm. He looked over at the two of them to see Tucker making a heart shape with his hands. "Tucker, I swear to god, I will tell my parents you want to learn how to hunt ghosts. And that you ate the emergency fudge."

At once Tucker's hands were back at his side, and Danny replied with a triumphant smile.

"So..." Sam trailed off, holding up her phone. "Pictures?"

"Oh! Right," Danny took a few steps towards her, and Sam motioned for him to stand in front of the portal. Danny did as instructed, jumpsuit still in hand, and looked back towards her. "Here...?"

"Smile!" Sam called, holding up her phone and snapping a picture of the surprised Danny. "So what is that hole for, anyway? A bat cave?"

"No, I-" Danny cut off for a second, blinking as Sam took another picture. "-I wish my parents were that cool. No, it's supposed to be a portal to the ghost... World... Or something like that. I forget what it's called. All I know is that they were calling it their ghost portal."

"Huh," Sam frowned for a second, and then smiled. "That's freakin' awesome! How does it work?"

"It doesn't," Tucker spoke up for Danny, "That's what upset his parents. That thing was like their life's work."

Sam's face fell, "Oh. That's too bad."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Can we go now? My parents will kill me if they catch me here." Danny lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. "And it's not like this stuff works anyways."

"Oh come on Danny, a _ghost portal?_" Sam's hand fell to her side, "You've got to be at least a little curious! You should check it out!"

"Um, no," Danny shook his head, "I'd rather not. Not only would I probably die of radiation or something, but if I didn't my parents and sister would kill me."

"We can fix the radiation thing with the jumpsuit," Tucker spoke up, "Come on dude, give it a shot!"

"...I'm not putting on spandex, Tucker."

"Aw, that's too bad," Sam shrugged, "Guys in spandex are _hot._"

The second he processed what Sam had said, Danny quickly stepped back into the closet. He swapped his clothes for the jumpsuit before rushing back out and over to his friends. "Really? Well then take some pictures! Maybe some of the hot girls at school will see them!"

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before they both broke out in laughter. Danny's face turned bright red as he realized what he'd said and what he'd just done. It took a moment for him to realize that they were pointing at his chest.

"_That,_" Sam sputtered, "Is one attractive sticker."

"You're making me swoon! I didn't know you'd come out of the closest like this!" Tucker added, and Danny scowled. On the front of his jumpsuit- and honestly going annoyingly against its white and black color scheme- was a sticker of his dad's face.

"I _really_ hate my dad sometimes. And Tucker? If you make another gay joke I'm throwing you in the closest. For the last time, I am straight." Danny peeled off the sticker, crumpled it up, and tossed it across the room. "Is that better?"

"Much," Sam replied lifting up her phone to snap a picture, and Tucker snorted as he lifted a hand to cover his mouth. "I never knew someone's face could go so red. That one's going in the scrapbook."

Danny turned away, ignoring their continuing snickers. "Well, if I'm wearing it," He muttered, looking at the portal as he took a reluctant step forward. "Here goes nothing."

Danny moved forward slowly, his breathing shallow and fast. He clenched his right fist, trying to calm himself, while he dragged his left hand along the wall. His throat was dry and he was shaking. Hundreds of red flags had risen in his mind, and Danny felt as if he was being crushed under the feeling that something was about to go horribly, utterly, wrong.

Danny suddenly stumbled forwards as his boot caught on a loose wire, and he let out an alarmed shout before pressing both hands against the side of the portal. He felt something move, but ignored it. _Oh my god._ He attempted to swallow his fear, ending up feeling as if he was about to puke.

"Danny?" Tucker's voice betrayed a bit of worry, "You okay?"

"I'm fine!" Danny snapped, his fear coming out as anger. Something in the portal started to buzz, and a couple things lit up. And right underneath his hands, Danny saw a green button labeled 'on'.

"Wait," The panic was obvious in his voice now, "I lied."

"Danny, get out of there!" Tucker shouted, and Danny looked at the portal around him to see little bursts of electricity jumping around him. It crawled along the walls, jumped across the entrance way... "Danny? Danny! Dude, get out of there!"

Nearly silent, Danny whispered, "I always knew I'd die on a Monday."

The electricity reached him, and Danny screamed.

He felt as if the bonds which held his very being together were being dissolved. He felt as if he was unbearably cold and unbelievably hot. The intense, searing, unbelievable pain flooded him, covering every bit of his body. If souls were real, his was being torn away. He felt as if his DNA was being scrubbed clean and rewritten, replaced with something else. The agony bubbled up within him, coating him with searing, tearing, radiating pain.

Danny wasn't sure how long he screamed, or how loud he did. His brain was too focused on the pain which tore into him, ripping him apart from the inside out. His mind struggled to form a coherent thought- just one, just one which could truly express his pain- but it formed a different one instead.

_No one should ever feel this pain._

And suddenly, there was green. And there was white. And there was black. Everything was spinning, and Danny felt as if he was pulling something towards him. The pain was fading now, but his vision was still blurred. And he was dizzy- oh so dizzy. There were bright flashes of light, though he couldn't fathom where they came from.

The black and white suddenly collided with him, and Danny was thrown back. A feeling raced through him, one which could best be described as having tape wrapped around the inside of him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and Danny felt as if he was falling through some thick substance.

Another thought formed in his mind, and strangely it didn't cause him fear.

_Am I dead?_

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny's scream had been endless and filled with pain. Sam couldn't find the words to describe it any other way.

Everything seemed unreal, too quiet, too bright. It didn't seem like it was actually there- like a dream, almost. _Oh god please let this be a dream. Please let me just wake up, and he'll be fine. This can't be real. This can't be happening._

Tucker had started screaming too, but she wasn't sure when. His had blended together with Danny's.

But she wasn't sure if Danny was even screaming anymore. She could do nothing but stare at the swirling vortex of green which had claimed her friend.

_I just killed Danny._

Weren't people supposed to feel something when they watched someone die? Happiness, anger, grief- any of it would be better than the numbness which covered her. _Why don't I feel anything? He's dead. He's dead. Oh my god, Danny's dead. No, he can't be dead. Just a few minutes ago, he was getting a paper cut from his science book. He was bleeding. He was alive. He can't be dead. No!_

Sam wasn't aware of the tears rolling down her cheeks until she tasted salt as one of them rolled into her mouth. A scene jumped into her mind, of the trio at school last week during science, as Danny rambled on about the stars above.

_He can't be dead._

"Oh my god," She choked, the reality of the situation crashing down around her. "Oh my god..."

_I killed him. I... I killed Danny. No. No, no, no, no, no...! Please no..._

"No!" Tucker's screech was dying off, and Sam couldn't hear Danny anymore. "No, no, no! Danny, no! This can't be happening!"

"Oh my god, no..." Sam's voice cracked, and she watched Tucker rush towards the portal.

"Danny, this isn't funny! Get out of there! Remember the deal from when we were seven?! You die I die!" His fist pounded against the metal outline, barely far enough away from the actual portal. "Stop this stupid light show! Get out of there! You die I die Danny, you die I die!" He fell forward, one hand still on the framed as his body shook. "Come back..."

Sam took a step towards him, wiping her tears away. She didn't deserve to cry. This was her fault. "Danny..."

The portal seemed to shiver, as if it was trying to escape. A second later, a white hand poked out from it.

"Tucker!" Sam's voice reached an unreasonably high shout, and the other teen looked over. He yelped almost in surprise, scrambling back as a black suit followed the glove. A body followed, falling back and crumpling up on the lab floor.

"What the hell is that?!" Tucker's voice was almost a screech. Sam rushed over to his side, not wanting to be standing alone when there was that... That _thing _laying a little ways away. The thing with unnatural white hair, a faint glow, and reverse colors of Danny's jumpsuit.

A thing which if the reverse colors were ignored, happened to look rather similar to the missing member of the trio.

"Danny...?"

At Sam's quiet question, bright green eyes shot open. Both her and Tucker stumbled back as what had fallen from the portal sat up slowly, took one look at the swirling green abyss, and scrambled away from it. He made a sound, almost like a scream, but a lot quieter and a lot raspier. He raised two hands towards his neck, but the raspy scream came again as he noticed them and soon the rest of his body.

"Danny...?" Tucker asked, panic obvious in his voice. "Danny?!"

"What is this?!" It sounded like Danny... Well, almost. The voice was echoing, and Sam swore it had something speaking alongside it. "What happened to me?!"

"Oh my god. Danny!" Tucker crossed the lab within a couple of steps, throwing his arms around the reverse-Danny as he sank to his knees. "Don't ever do that to me again, you hear me?! Don't you ever do that to me again!"

"T-Tucker?" Danny's voice shook, "What happened to me? My gloves were black. _They were black. _Why are they white? _They were black._"

"I don't know," Tucker's voice was shaking too, "I don't know, but I'm sure you're fine. You_ have_ to be fine. You're alive, right? So you _have_ to be fine."

Sam stood off to the side, feeling like a stranger in their conversation. As much as she'd like to pretend she was, she wasn't their friend. Friends wouldn't let their friends be _electrocuted!_

Danny suddenly let out an alarmed sound, and Sam instinctively lifted a hand to shield her eyes as a bright flash of light covered the lab. It was gone almost as quickly as it came, and afterwards Sam let out a choked sound of surprise.

The Danny being hugged by Tucker was no longer the green-eyed-reversed-colors one, but instead the Danny which had stepped into the portal. Normal colors on the jumpsuit, no glow, black hair instead of white, and his _normal_ alarmed blue eyes.

"Danny...?" Sam whispered, and he looked over at her as Tucker finally pulled back.

"Sam...?" He replied, looking down at his hands then back over at her. "I... I'm normal. I'm okay? I'm- _oh holy f-!_" He pointed to the ground in front of her, shuffling backwards until he hit a table leg. Sam looked down, and seeing nothing, looked back at Danny. He had tensed up, and with a sudden alarmed cry he was convulsing on his side. His skin had paled and his breathing sounded oddly noisy.

"What the hell?!" Sam took a step back, shallowly and quickly breathing as panic covered her once more. Tucker was reacting the same as she was. "What the- Danny?!"

"Get Jazz!" Tucker snapped, panic very obvious on his face. "Get his sister! Get Jazz!"

_Jazz. Jazz, his sister Jazz. The girl who gave us a ride here. She's upstairs, kitchen, that Jazz._

Sam didn't know when she started nodding and wasn't sure when she stopped. She wasn't sure when she turned and ran up the stairs, or why the doorway back to the kitchen suddenly got so close to her face. She moved by instinct, everything she did seeming foreign and controlled by someone else. The door swung open, revealing Jazz sitting at the table.

Danny's sister automatically switched from angry to concerned once she noticed that only Sam had come upstairs. She stood up, and Sam choked out a few words. "Danny, he... Danny..."

Those three words were enough for Jazz. She quickly pushed past Sam, fear evident on her face, and rushed down the stairs. Sam followed, numbness covering her and salt water leaking into her mouth once again. She reached the bottom of the stairs in time to see Jazz pull Danny close to her into a hug, ignoring his shaking and flailing limbs. Moments later she pulled her cell phone from a pocket, dialed a few numbers, and frantically shouted into it. "I need an ambulance!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

With a wave from a man in a police car, the Fenton RV managed to get past the car accident which had held them up. Maddie tapped her fingers by the door handle, awkward silence covering the vehicle. She didn't want to turn on the radio; but she didn't know what to say...

"It's okay if you're mad, Maddie." By the sound of Jack's voice and the fact that he was driving calmly- something he hadn't done for years-, he didn't know what to say either. "You have every right to be. It's just... If it doesn't work, we need to take it down. The sooner we do, the sooner we can move on."

"I know, Jack," Maddie replied, shaking her head. "I know, okay? But I just... I can't take it down. We've been working towards having a working one since college. And besides," She pulled out her trump card, ignoring the sirens in the distance. "Wouldn't Vlad want us to do it? It was his dream too, Jack."

Jack pulled to the side of the road, and for a second Maddie wondered if her trump card for arguments had finally backfired. It was soon revealed that that wasn't the case, and instead an ambulance raced passed them.

"Don't turn right," Maddie wasn't aware she'd spoken aloud until she heard Jack's voice speak alongside it. "Don't turn right, don't turn right."

The ambulance did just that.

A few moments passed. There was no look between the two, and no secret message passed between them. Jack's foot pushed down the gas pedal and he was driving more frantically than normal within seconds. People on the sidewalks flattened themselves against buildings in an attempt to avoid injury. Jack Fenton was known for his reckless driving, but this was new level for him.

Maddie just held onto what had been dubbed the 'oh-holy-crap' handle- it was just a piece of plastic built into the door, but with Jack's driving it was very useful plastic- with grip causing her knuckles to turn white. She knew there was a chance that the ambulance wasn't going to their house, but... She wasn't going to take that risk. As a mother with very dangerous items in her basement, she _couldn't_ take that risk.

A light turned red in front of them, and Maddie pulled the steering wheel over to her side. She turned sharply onto another road, avoiding the light.

"What are you doing?!" Jack snapped, and Maddie knew he was just as worried as she was.

"Shortcut!" She replied, and shoved the steering wheel back to him before wrapping her hands back around the handle. "Do you want to sit at a light?!"

Jack didn't reply, and the RV lapsed into silence as they pulled up to their block to see their worst fear. The ambulance was right outside their house, and their door was open. Maddie was jumping out of the RV within seconds and racing towards her house, despite Jack calling after her.

"Jazz! Danny!" She shouted, jumping up over the stair railing and rushing into her house. _Please let my babies be okay. _"Jazz! Danny!" _Please. Anyone but them._

There was the sound of someone in the kitchen, and then, "Mom?"

"Jasmine!" Maddie shouted rushing into the room. Two muscular men were carrying a board of sorts up the stairs as Maddie threw her arms around her daughter. "Jasmine, where's your brother?!" Jazz pulled back, tears in her eyes. Maddie caught sight of what was strapped onto the board, and her heart skipped a beat. "No..."

Danny was unconscious, and Maddie wanted to scream as she realized he was wearing his jumpsuit. Everyone in the family had one, but Danny and Jazz seemed to hate theirs. Maddie briefly wondered why Danny would have his on, but she suppressed the thought. It didn't matter.

"Ma'am," It took Maddie a split second to realize the front paramedic was talking to her. "Ma'am please, you need to move."

"But," Maddie protested, her voice catching in her throat as she noticed Danny's friend Tucker and some girl leave the basement. They were using each other for support, and the girl's makeup was horribly smudged. "Please, that's my baby!"

"That may be true Ma'am," The second paramedic spoke up, "But that's not going to matter much if we don't get him to a hospital."

Jazz let out some sort of high pitched sound as she tensed up. Maddie clasped a hand over her mouth and tried to calm herself as the first paramedic gave an annoyed look to the second. She moved to the side, and they rushed out the door. Jazz went to move after them, but Maddie caught her arm first. Ignoring Danny's friends, Maddie pulled her daughter to the Ghost Assault Vehicle and pushed her in.

Jack was looking over at her, a death grip on the steering wheel. "Maddie...?"

Maddie did up her seat belt and looked her husband in the eyes. She only said one word, but that word was enough.

"Danny."

The ambulance pulled away, lights and sirens going. Jack's expression turned to one of horror before he stomped down the gas pedal and raced after it.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny woke to the annoying sound of constant beeping. He became aware of a dull sensation of pain throughout him as his eyes fluttered open, and his first thought was simple.

_This isn't my room._

He attempted to move a hand so that he could wipe strands of hair from his eyes. Something pulled against it, and there was an uncomfortable feeling in his wrist. Danny frowned and moved his head, looking over at his wrist. _An IV...? I'm in a hospital. Oh. Okay. Ow._

There was a sort of _shink_ sound, and Danny moved his head once again to see a familiar face pull back a blue curtain. "Jazz?" His voice sounded rough, and Danny coughed in an attempt to regain his normal voice. He tried to move into a sitting position, but his sister quickly rushed forward and placed a hand on his chest.

"Danny, no!" She pushed him back down, hesitating a second before smiling. "When did you wake up?"

"Just now," Danny coughed again, "How long was I... Uh, asleep for?

"Uh... A day? I don't really know." Jazz sat down in a small metal chair beside Danny's bed. "They wouldn't let us see you until a few hours ago. Mom and Dad just left to go talk to a doctor, and I-" She held up a bottle of water. "I got thirsty."

"Oh," Danny reached over, his left hand grazing the paper wrapped around the bottle. "Can I have some?"

Jazz pulled the water bottle out of Danny's reach. "I don't think so, little brother. Not until the doctors say so." Danny's face moved into a pout, and Jazz let out a small laugh. "It's good to have you back, Danny. I... I was so scared I'd lost you."

"What?" Danny frowned, "What are you talking about, Jazz?"

Jazz started tearing off the paper from the bottle. "You tell me. The doctors... They didn't know if you would wake up. They didn't think you would."

"...Oh." _Great job Fenton, you can't even be in a coma right. _"Whoops."

"I... I almost believed them. Sam and Tucker were panicking, and I came downstairs to see you flailing. I didn't know what had happened, or what to do, I..." There was a pause before Jazz looked up at him and wrapped one of her hands around Danny's own. "Danny, please. What happened?"

Scenes flashed through Danny's mind. There was pain, ear-piercing screams, his gloves changing color with a flash of light and some sort flickering black and white thing at Sam's feet, more pain... But after that, there was nothing. And Danny wasn't sure why.

"Danny?" Jazz pressed, squeezing Danny's hand. "Are you okay? You... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Sam and Tucker gave us an abridged version, I just wanted to hear it from you."

Danny shook his head, "I... It's not that, it's just..." _I'm a complete and utter idiot who actually thought it was a good idea to go into that stupid portal? I should probably be in a lot more pain and probably dead? Something was lying at Sam's feet but when I tried to move away from it I felt like the portal was murdering me all over again? I shouldn't even be alive right now?! ...Wow, that went from bad to worse. _"...I don't know anymore."

"Oh," Jazz hesitated a second before standing up, lying the water bottle down on the chair. A few drops of the water leaked out onto the seat. "Do you think you're up for seeing Mom and Dad? They'll be happy to know you live."

Danny smiled, "Better now than later, right?"

"Yeah," Jazz turned away and stepped past the curtain, leaving Danny alone.

_...Jazz looked wrecked. Good job Fenton, you broke yourself and your sister._ Danny groaned, fiddling with the thin blanket draped over him. _You are an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. If there was any chance of the portal working before, it's probably dead now. Bravo, you've screwed everything up even more..._ His thought trailed off as a puffed of cold air rose up from the back of his throat and out his mouth. Danny coughed as the fog dissipated, feeling a small mental tug towards his left side.

"Okay...?" Danny whispered in an effort to calm himself, "That's a little bit weird... Okay more than a little... Maybe I imagined it...?"

"Let. Me. Go."

Danny froze, pulling the blanket up around him. The voice had been quiet, and though it sounded far away, it held power. It was unnatural, echoing, and plunged fear into Danny's mind. _Please tell me that was just some crazy patient._

The voice didn't add on anything else, but Danny shivered as the room seemed to grow cooler. He felt like he had just been dumped in a snowbank, and for the life of him Danny couldn't figure out why. _Am I getting sick? Please let it be that. Please let it be something reasonable like that._ For a split second, he felt pressure on his right arm just below the shoulder. But then it was gone, and the coldness retreated.

"What did you...?" The mysterious voice spoke again, but it was so quiet that Danny barely heard it. "What did you do to me?! Stop it!"

"This can't be happening..." Danny whispered, closing his eyes. "This isn't happening. This isn't real, this can't be real... This can't be happening..."

"Danny!" The tense and terrifying situation was broken by the sound of Jack's voice, and Danny opened his eyes just in time to see his dad barrel through the curtain and pull Danny into a tight hug.

"Dad," Danny gave an exaggerated gasp, as he always did when his father hugged him. "Air...!"

Jack quickly let go, unlike normal. Danny fell back onto the bed, looking up at Jack. He frowned, confused, and Jack looked guilty. "So... How are you, son?"

"I'm... I'm okay," Danny frowned, his left hand moving to rub the back of his neck. "How are you?"

"Good. I'm uh, I'm pretty good."

"Danny?" Both Fenton men breathed a sigh of relief as Maddie and Jazz both re-entered the area, ending the awkwardness. Maddie reached down to kiss Danny's forehead, a small smile on her face. "It's good to have you back, Sweetie."

"It's... Good to be back...?" Danny said, and coughed once again in an attempt to clear his throat.

"How are you feeling?" Maddie was doing the same thing Jazz had done before; squeezing Danny's free hand. Jack attempted to move around her, nearly tripping over the chair in the process.

"I'm okay," Danny muttered, "A little bit sore, but I'm okay."

Maddie shot a glance at her husband before looking back at Danny. "If it's bugging you, we can ask the doctors to give you more painkillers."

Danny attempted to sit up, "I'm on painkillers?"

"Danny, you were electrocuted," Jack spoke up, "You're on a lot of painkillers." He reached over, picking up a frozen bottle of water from the chair as Maddie glared at him. "And apparently discount ice packs."

"Oh," Danny relaxed, looking up at his parents. _I've seen on TV that some painkillers can make people hallucinate. _He yawned, smiling. _That's a relief. There wasn't anyone there. I'm just a little crazy. I'll be okay. _"Okay."

"You should rest, Sweetie," Maddie smiled, "The more you sleep the quicker you'll get better." She went to pull her hand away, but Danny held on tighter in an effort to stop her. He wanted his family there if something happened again.

"Could you stay until I fall asleep?" He fought to keep fear from his voice, and he quickly glanced over to his sister. From the look on her face, she'd heard it. "Please?"

Jack appeared a little tenser as Maddie sat down in the chair and Jazz sat on the edge of Danny's bed. "Of course," Maddie reached forward to brush some hair from Danny's eyes. "Of course we'll stay."

_Take that, hallucination. _Danny smiled, pulling the blanket around him. _Good luck bugging me when my family's around._

Thankfully, the disembodied voice offered no reply.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"But don't you _see?_ Trying doesn't matter. It won't work- it _can't_ work! You know that. You know it better than anyone."

"But I can't just let this go. I can't just- I need to bring them back! If you came back, why can't they?! I have to try! I... I can't go on like this. I can't go on without them."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny was officially bored of the hospital.

Two days had passed since he'd woken up, his parents had gone home to play with their now-working portal, and Jazz had gone back to school. She had gotten a bunch of students to sign a card for him, while Tucker and Sam had sent him a bouquet of candy.

Danny ran his teeth over a piece of white chocolate, board out of his mind. He just wanted to do something- _anything_\- besides sit in his hospital bed and make occasional trips to the bathroom.

He finished off the chocolate, smiling to himself as he forced himself to focus on the positives. According to his doctors he was healing at an unbelievably fast rate, which meant he'd probably be able to go home by Friday morning. He'd still be on painkillers, but he was going home. And that was the main thing. And Jazz would probably be over to visit him in a few minutes.

_But until then, I get to be bored. Bah. Someone shoot me._

Danny debated going for another piece of chocolate, but a sudden drop of temperature stopped him. He shivered as a breath of freezing air escaped his mouth, and Danny pulled the blanket up around him.

_I hate these painkillers. Why do I have to hallucinate?! This isn't fair!_

The voice had more force when it spoke this time, "I think I've figured you out."

Danny pulled the blanket up over him, waiting for the voice to go away.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Now it just sounded annoyed, "I will pull the leash. You're human; it'll hurt you more than it'll hurt me. …I think."

"Go away..." Danny whispered, "Please, go away."

"...Fine." From the corner of his eye, Danny saw what could best be described as the air shivering. "I've wanted to see what humans do when the leash is pulled against them."

The voice seemed to leave then, and Danny frowned as he sat up. _Leash? I'm not on a leash. What does he think I am, his puppy?_

_...Wait, why did I give the voice a gender? It's not real. Fenton, you moron, it's not..._

Danny's thoughts stopped, and he sat up. A feeling of dread rose up within him, a feeling that if he went forward even an inch more his world would come crashing down around him.

Danny licked his lips, taking a deep breath in. _Relax, Fenton. You're fine. You're in a hospital; what's the worst that could happen? You're fine, you're perfectly..._ _You're fine. Breathe. In, out, in, out, in..._

The feeling started in the fingertips of his left hand. It was pins and needles, like he'd been lying on his hand for an hour. But that only lasted for a few seconds.

Danny screamed, his body going rigid as the unnatural pain exploded through him. It felt like his entire body was being crushed while pulled apart, and that thousands of nails were stabbing into him. He felt as if he was caught up in a flame so hot it was cold.

As quickly as it came, it was gone again. The next thing Danny knew there were nurses all around him, talking soothingly and assuring him he was safe. A headache forced Danny to ignore them, and he groaned softly as he rolled onto his back.

He barely heard what the nurses were saying, but Danny felt his body tense as he noticed what almost appeared to be a figure at the end of his bed.

"Huh," The voice spoke up, clearer than everyone else's. "So that's what happens when I pull on the leash. ...Ow..."

Danny barely swallowed a whimper of fear. Whatever this was, it wasn't a hallucination. It had _hurt_ him.

This wasn't a side effect of painkillers. It couldn't be, As much as Danny wanted to deny it… This was real.

_Oh my god, he's real._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch leaned against a wall in a hallway, his tongue poking from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on his hands. A shape slowly formed from the faint blue glow which surrounded them, and the ghost's eyes brightened. "Yes!" He cheered, staring down at the small bag of popcorn he'd created. He popped a piece into his mouth, smiling. "Suck it, you Timey-Powered twat! Who can't focus their powers now?! All five senses, in a neat little buttery bag!"

The sudden sound of someone crying behind him caused the ghost to tense and throw his arms behind him in a panic. He cut off his power as he turned towards the sound, trying to appear innocent as he looked at the ghost.

_Oh. It's just Hourglass. Never mind then._

"Hey," He smiled, watching her wipe her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"No," She sniffed, pulling her hood up to cover her face. "My aunt showed me my Timeline. We couldn't find Prince. He's gone, Stopwatch, this isn't like Positgen. He's actually, honestly, _gone. _And it's all my fault!"

She was crying again, and Stopwatch fought to stay stoic. Honestly, didn't care that the ghost had been destroyed. He'd looked like a Danny Phantom. And it didn't matter which of the thousands of Timelines one of those were from, they always caused more trouble than they were worth. But on the other hand, even though his best friend wasn't a fan of them either, she was horrified by the idea of anyone dying. It was rather annoying.

"No, it isn't." Stopwatch stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. He threw a smile onto his face and reached forward with his other hand, brushing loose strands of hair from her face. "Listen to me. You made a mistake. Whoop-dee-do. Everyone makes mistakes. You can't let them define you."

"But I destroyed him!" Hourglass pushed his hand away, "I'm not like you. I can't just shrug death off. And it gets worse; we found a Danny Fenton. I... I don't know what ghost it was, it might've been us, but he _sensed_ them. Stopwatch, I think I made a Scientific Halfa. And not just any- one of _them_."

Stopwatch froze for a second, knowing exactly what she meant by 'them' before he recalled he had an appearance to keep up. _Improper sass engaged. Sorry Hourglass._ "Are you sure he wasn't just cold?"

"He was in a hospital," Hourglass shook her head, and Stopwatch briefly frowned at the missed opportunity for sarcasm. "I don't think that was the problem."

"But isn't your Timeline the one where something screwed up and now portals don't make Halfas?" Stopwatch crossed his arms, "Look, you're upset. I get that. But you're usually smarter than this. Your Timeline will be fine. You know how the line goes; everything is as it should be." Hourglass gave him a curious look, and Stopwatch quickly threw on a goofy smile. Being so serious would be bad for his image. "Unless it starts raining popcorn or something. I don't have enough butter for that to be as it should be."

Hourglass smiled for a second before lifting a hand to cover the bottom of her face. "You aren't helping."

_Bull, _Stopwatch thought, detecting a faint sound of amusement in her voice. "Hey, you stopped crying." He shrugged, letting his arms fall to his sides and ignoring a somewhat distant thump. "I think I helped."

Hourglass opened her mouth to add something else to the conversation, but stopped. She looked to her left, confused. "...Did you hear something? I think something fell. What if it was a thermos?"

"I can name at least five reasons why it wouldn't be that." _Main one being I heard it too, and that was too heavy to be a thermos._ He barely contained an eye roll, "It's probably one of the other apprentices. The common room's just around the corner, after all."

"I know that," Hourglass turned towards where the sound had come from. "Do you think we should go check it out?"

_No. _"If you want to," Stopwatch shrugged, suddenly aware of what sounded like rushed footsteps. "On the other hand..."

He timed it perfectly; whatever had been running rushed past them, suddenly pulling them back to function as shields. Stopwatch was about to be offended, but then another ghost turned the corner. Except, this one was in the form of a large tiger. It stopped when it noticed them.

Stopwatch recognized his fellow apprentice within moments. "Really, Tori?" He scoffed, "I knew you were lonely, but you're supposed to get a cat, not become one."

The ghost, apparently named Tori, stopped. A flash of light later, a physically-nineteen and green-skinned female ghost stood in the tiger's place. She raised an eyebrow, and it disappeared behind the bangs of her short, darker green hair. "He started it. That impossibility shouldn't even be here."

"You know, there are these things called chill pills," The ghost behind Stopwatch spoke up, "You might want to talk to your doctor about them."

Tori crossed her arms, "Shut up, freak. Those who actually matter are talking."

"Tori!" Hourglass snapped, clasping her hands in front of her. "Respect is a virtue, you know. I suggest you read up on it."

"Oh, my apologies," Tori's voice was heavy with sarcasm as she dipped into a mock curtsy. "I am but a _normal _ghost, who does _normal _things. The terminology you Timey Elites use confuses and frightens me."

Stopwatch felt fury rise within him as Hourglass stepped back, for some reason hurt by Tori's comment. He pushed it down, knowing that no good would come of him losing control. He'd be punished severely for that, by many powerful beings. Instead he stepped forward, calmly calling forth the power he been practicing with. "Well, then maybe you should read some books." He flicked his hands, coating them with a faint blue energy, and Tori stumbled back with wide eyes. He pictured what she would be seeing- a roaring monster made of paperback novels- and a smirk made its way onto his face. "I have some you can borrow." _Sight and hearing. Just those senses. Okay, okay... Shit, I hate doing sight..._

"Where did you-?! Ah!" She stepped back, looking past the illusion to glare at Stopwatch. "You... Freak! Fruit loop!" She turned around the corner, and Stopwatch waved his hand to have the illusion follow her for a few seconds. He let the power die off after that, ignoring the temptation to continue manipulating her reality and cause the other ghosts in the tower to believe Tori as insane.

"Oh no, I'm a cereal." He rolled his eyes instead, pushing the thoughts from his mind. "I must live my life in delicious shame."

The ghost behind him snorted with muffled laughter, and Hourglass shook her head. "I really hate shape shifters." She turned to the ghost they'd been defending, "Are you-" She stopped, eyes wide as she stepped back. "No. No, why this?!" She fell to her knees, her head in her hands. "Oh, the world just hates me today!"

Stopwatch blinked twice and turned towards the ghost. He tensed, recognizing them within an instant. His core buzzed, and he felt his control over his obsession slipping away. Scenes planted themselves in his mind, and though he knew it wouldn't end well, he smiled at the ones of human blood on his hands.

"Hey? Hey!" Stopwatch was surprised he didn't fall forward. He was dragged out of his mind, greeted by fingers snapping in his face. "Wake up! I'm _not_ in the mood to die right now!"

Shaking his head, Stopwatch took a step back. It just had to be one of them. He knew Clockwork- with his whole 'I'm not killing anyone I'm taking them in instead' thing- had a small army of alternate versions of him, but they were supposed to stay hidden. They weren't supposed to know there were alternate Timelines, or other apprentices!

They weren't supposed to do anything. They weren't supposed to _know_ anything!

They weren't supposed to matter.

The Danny Phantom gave him a confused look, "Are you sane now, or...?"

"I'm fine," Stopwatch quickly replied, stepping back and looking past the Danny Phantom. He couldn't lose control again. He had to stay strong. "What are you doing here?"

"...I'm looking for Clockwork," The Danny Phantom moved back into an almost defensive stance, "I want to talk to him."

"Oh," Stopwatch frowned, searching his mind for a ghost the Danny Phantom in front of his would've fought. He needed one and he needed one now, otherwise he was going to lose control. And while he was thinking sanely, the idea of human blood on his hands made him sick. "He's a couple floors up, I would think. Pretty sure that's where his quarters are." _Ember? Spectra? Skulker. I'll use Skulker._ "Here, I have a friend who'll be able to show you the way."

Stopwatch pooled his power into creating an illusion he'd only met a couple times before. He had to affect sight and hearing; only two of the five senses. He could do this. He'd just done it moments ago. _I can do this._

The illusion of the robotic ghost sprung to existence, and Stopwatch didn't bother focusing it only on the Danny Phantom. That would involve focusing on him, and he wouldn't be able to keep his control if he did that. Besides, Hourglass had learned to tell when he used his power of Reality Manipulation on her.

The Danny stumbled, eyes wide. Both his hands pressed against his left side as he fell back against a wall, cowering and shaking with fear.

Stopwatch blinked twice, _you're supposed to run, idiot._

Stopwatch received another jolt towards reality as Hourglass laughed, and he nearly dropped the illusion. He had to actually check back to be sure, but that confirmed it. The physically younger ghost was laughing at the hybrid's fear.

Unsure of the proper reaction, Stopwatch just shrugged. There went any reason to stop manipulating reality. After all, if his over sensitive best friend found it funny, it couldn't be too bad. Besides, if he manipulated his own vision, he could distort how he viewed the Danny Phantom. That way his obsession wouldn't overwhelm him.

Stopwatch didn't notice when the hybrid appeared to pass out from fear, or the tears running down his cheeks as he gripped the left side of his torso. Stopwatch just kept the illusion moving forward at a painfully slow pace, producing weapon after weapon. The point of it quickly faded from his mind, and Stopwatch found himself laughing too.

What was- in Stopwatch's opinion- a relatively peaceful situation was quickly ended, as a blast of energy hit his side. He was thrown back, hitting a wall. His fists clenched, and he looked up with murder in his eyes. It was quickly replaced with a neutral look, all anger safely hidden away.

Hourglass was standing now, caught between rushing over to him and the brown-haired female ghost who had delivered the blow. "Auntie! I- I mean..."

"For the last time," The ghost sounded annoyed, in the simplest of terms. "I am not your aunt. Why was your boy toy over there murdering a kid? I thought he was housebroken."

Stopwatch stood, "Not quite. By the way, I left a present on your rug."

Hourglass smacked a palm to her face as her not-aunt raised an eyebrow. "Oh, someone's feeling clever today. I'll remember that next time I'm in the mood to murder someone."

"Oh goodie," Stopwatch smirked, "Can it be mutual?"

"Please stop," Hourglass spoke quietly, but it was effective on both ghosts. "Can I please just take Stopwatch and go? Please! We're sorry!"

"That won't get you out of this that easily, Sweetie." The ghost frowned, looking over at the now unconscious Danny Phantom. "But I suppose we can deal with it later. Both of you- and yes, that does mean both- will be punished." She stepped forward, hooked her arms under the unconscious hybrid's shoulders, stumbled slightly, and dragged him away.

Stopwatch floated over to Hourglass, frowning. "She's not going to punish you, is she?"

Hourglass gave a sheepish smile, "Probably not." She paused, "Do you really have to antagonize her like that?"

Stopwatch shrugged, barely holding in a smile. _No, but since killing her isn't an option, it's the best I've got._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"We believe Daniel has developed Epilepsy. The tests we just finished have confirmed it."

Jazz looked up at the doctor, confusion evident on her face. She knew that Danny had been pulled off for a variety of tests after what had happened, but this… This wasn't what she expected. "Epilepsy? But... I don't..." _I haven't read about that!_

"Jasmine," Maddie forced a smile, motioning to the room Danny was in. "Perhaps you should go talk to your brother. I'm sure he'd enjoy the company."

Jazz swallowed, giving the doctor a glance before stepping back and opening the door. She gave a nod of recognition to the boy Danny shared the room with- she'd learned a few days ago that his name was Gregory and that he was two years older than she was. He'd been the one to contact a nurse when Danny had had his seizure. He was also _very_ cute, but that wasn't important- and he waved back before rolling on his side and putting headphones in.

As Jazz stepped closer to the curtain between Danny and Gregory's beds, she became aware of her brother speaking. The conversation was one sided, but there were short breaks for replies. Though, from the sound of Danny's voice, he didn't get one.

"I'll ask again. What do you want with me? Why did you hurt me? Where are you? _...What _are you?! Talk to me! I know you're there, so talk to me! Just tell me what you want!"

Jazz couldn't take it anymore. She shook the curtain back and forth, declaring her presence before opening it. Danny looked alarmed as she opened it, his hands automatically resting on the back of his neck.

"Hi," She smiled, sitting down in the chair beside Danny's bed. "How are you?"

"I... I'm good," Danny wasn't making eye contact, and Jazz held back tears. Her baby brother was hurting, and she couldn't do anything to stop it. "You?"

"I'm fine," Jazz forced her smile to stick, folding her hands in her lap. "So..."

"So..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, not offering anything else.

Jazz looked down, unsure of the words she wanted to say. After a few moments, she gave up. "Can I get you anything?"

Danny shook his head, looking over at the end of his bed. "No... No, I'm fine. Just... Well, bored."

Silence once again settled between them. It felts smothering, like a blanket. No matter how hard she tried, Jazz could not find the words the express what she wanted to say. At last, the teenage girl settled with the best phrase she could. "Danny..." She began, "I'm sorry."

This time, her little brother actually did make eye contact. "What do you mean?"

Jazz held the eye contact, again not exactly sure what to say. "I should have done something..."

"Wait, what?" Danny attempted to be subtle as he shot another look to the end of his bed, but Jazz still caught it. "About what? Jazz, a lot of stuff is going on right now, but I'm sure you're doing as much as you can. And knowing you, it's probably a lot more than you should."

Jazz sighed and sat back. "Danny, no. I am not doing more than I should. I'm doing less than I should. You wouldn't be here, laying in a hospital bed, if not for me. I am sorry that I didn't protect you like I should have." With that the teenage girl bit her lip and turned away, she would not let herself cry. She needed to be strong. Her baby brother needed her.

"Jazz," Danny groaned, "You aren't the one who made me put on the stupid suit and go in the portal. You didn't make me push that button. I'm fourteen, Jazz; I'm not a little kid. You can't protect me from everything." Just loud enough for Jazz to be unsure if he had really said that, her brother added on. "Though at the moment, I kind of wish you could."

Jazz looked at her brother, "Danny, who else are you talking to?"

"...Uh..." He was rubbing his neck again, "...I don't really know... I haven't seen him. It. Whatever."

"Danny," Jazz started, "You know you can tell me anything? Right? If something is wrong, more wrong, please, tell me."

"Believe me," Danny muttered, "If I knew how to explain it, I would. But I haven't even seen the guy; it was like a figure... That isn't normal, is it?"

It took Jazz a moment to processes what her brother was trying to say, in the end she only barely understood. He was seeing things that weren't there. "Danny..." She trailed off. Honestly not sure what words could comfort him. "Danny I don't know. I don't know if any of this is normal."

"Why can't we be normal, Jazz?" Danny's voice shook slightly, "Why can't we get injured by normal thing and have normal stuff happen afterwards? Normal people don't have this stuff happen to them. They break their leg falling from a treehouse or something. Why can't we be like that?"

Jazz sighed once more. She'd been asking herself the same question for years. "Because Danny, life has something special planned for us."

* * *

Please excuse the broken Clockwork. I've been meaning to take him in to get fixed, but I've been busy. Also, excuse the plot-heavy scenes with the Time Apprentices. They'll be very important for later events, so I'm getting their arc out of the way early. Later on, their scenes won't be as plot heavy. Well, usually. Sometimes they try to kill each other and that's kind of important.

So, I know your eyes are a little bit dead by now, (16,000+ words, and we only fit in half the scenes we wanted! _This is why you shouldn't let me do things_) but bare with me for a little longer. Within this story, we will have something called the **Favorite Character Poll**. Now, much like my Misleading Poll from Unfamiliar Family, this has no set base where you can vote. You just tell us in a review, PM, on Tumblr, or whichever other way you so choose which character- Canon, OC, broken Clockwork, whatever- you enjoyed the most in this chapter. Despite the fact that this'll be in every chapter, it has no effect on the story, and honestly is mostly for our curiosity. Though we would love it if you did vote, it is by no means necessary.

Any sort of love for this story will be welcomed with open arms! However, if any reviews turn out to be flames, they'll be used to make the chapters even longer.

And you know, somehow I doubt your eyes want that.


	2. Accident Prone (Part 2)

In which Tucker references stuff that I'm not allowed to reference but it's okay because LoveWritingStories wrote those lines. However, I wrote all the Ghost Language lines so it all evens out.

Yeah, this seems like a good time to mention that the Ghost Language headcanon is used in this doesn't it? In a few scenes there will be lines of gibberish, which though they may look like it, are not keyboard smashes! For the form of it used, the letter typed is one letter to the right on the typical 'qwerty' keyboard. For example, L is A and A is S. I'm telling you people this in case you feel like translating it and trying to figure out what Prince is saying. Though honestly, it's mostly just him trying to be sassy and failing.

Of course, you could also ask us what it says since it's entirely possible that I have the English translation of those lines memorized.

**Chapter Warning:** Language, and apparently Dash is a dick about sensitive subjects. Also a gay confusion occurs.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 2;**

"You don't have a choice. You have to keep going. It isn't just about you anymore. What you do affects the whole Universe! And it's what they would've wanted, you know that."

"You didn't know them like I did. You weren't even there! Don't... Don't you dare try to tell me what they wanted."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch slowly moved forward down the hallway he wasn't supposed to enter, attempting to hold a frozen bag of peas over his right eye.

For not even close to the first time, the reality manipulator found himself thankful his more permanent residence was the one with a ghost who actually enjoyed cooking human food. And not only because everything she cooked was delicious; the frozen bag of peas was quite useful for his bruised and blackened eye.

He only had the stupid thing because he'd messed up. He couldn't get his damn powers to co-operate perfectly like his teacher could, and the bruises he was left with because of it seemed like a bad 'buy one get one free' deal. If only he hadn't made a dumb mistake, if only he'd been able to get that damn popcorn right.

Continuing down the hallway he wasn't supposed to enter, Stopwatch pushed the thoughts away and continued his search for his best friend. "Hourglass...?"

His call remained unanswered, and Stopwatch held in a groan. _Please tell me she's not at one of her dumb Royal Sympathizer meetings. On the upside, that would mean her not-mommy of murder won't be here. Am I lucky or unlucky, that is the question. Probably unlucky, because I still have to deal with Clockwork._

The sound of two voices shouting reached his ears, and Stopwatch held back a groan. _And they're fighting again. Wonderful. _

_...Wait, hold on, I know one of those is Clockwork, but the other's a guy. So it's not with Tardis... Oh, this is going to be good!_

He quickened his speed, turning a rounded corner and stopping in front of one of the many rooms he wasn't allowed in. Kneeling in front of it with an ear against the closed door was Hourglass, and she tensed up once she saw him. Stopwatch smiled as she pulled up her hood before quietly copying his friend.

"Who's winning?"

Hourglass appeared confused, but whispered back her reply and completely ignored the question. "Why do you have _peas_ on your face?"

"I got mowed down by a wild buffet table," He smiled, "So, who is Clockwork yelling at?"

"I don't know, I... Just listen."

Shrugging, Stopwatch did just that and let the mess of sounds become the words it was meant to be.

"You can shut up, Mister Time Master!" The new ghost was yelling, "I trusted you! I _respected_ you! And this is how you repay me?! By treating me like an old shoe you can just throw away?!"

"In case you have yet to realize the error of your metaphor, I don't wear shoes." Clockwork's voice was calmer and a little bit smug. Stopwatch inferred that he must be the one winning the argument. "You're basically saying that it doesn't matter what you do, you will always be useless to me. How accurate."

"Oh, my bad," The ghost snapped, "I'm used to talking to people who actually have legs!"

Hourglass's eyes widened and Stopwatch snapped with his free hand. "And it's on!" _Oh, this is getting good! He's talking about the legs!_

Clockwork was silent for a moment, but when he spoke Stopwatch could actually feel the anger in his voice. "...I don't know what sort of vengeance Tardis hoped to gain by bringing you here, but I can let you both know that there are things we don't talk about for a reason. If you do not possess the brain capability to understand that, then I pity you. I pity you and every being that will ever be unfortunate enough to be in your presence."

"Yeah, you know, I don't have to take this from you." The new ghost just sounded annoyed now, "I matter. And if you don't like it, you can shove it up your non-existent ass. I'm leaving. Anything that happens next is all on you."

There was the sound of footsteps, and Stopwatch quickly stood. He pulled Hourglass up with him as the two moved back, the door swinging open a moment later. The ghost who stormed out was in his late teens, human-like with pale skin, and absolutely pissed.

He didn't appear to see the two Time Apprentices, turning the other way. Stopwatch barely held in his laughter as the white cloak the ghost had on caught the doorknob, causing him to stumble forwards. Hourglass' alarmed gasp caused Stopwatch to reach forwards, catching him before he could fall. The bag of peas slid off, landing right on the ghost's nose before falling to the ground.

"You know," Stopwatch smiled, watching what could almost be described as fear flicker in the ghost's eyes. "This would be very romantic if I weren't straight. Well, aside from the peeing on you part. That's too kinky for my tastes."

The ghost struggled back to his feet, brushing himself off. He didn't reply to what Stopwatch had said, and just continued to give the both of them a suspicious look. Stopwatch took a second, scanning the ghost for distinguishing features. His eyes were green, signalling he was either weak or not very old. He had one of Clockwork's weird CW medallions around his neck, but by far the weirdest feature had to be his hair. Stopwatch wasn't sure how it was possible, but while the moderately long hair in a low ponytail was mostly white, but the strands in the ponytail were actually a very dark black.

_Man, he must've had some killer hair dye._

"Who are you?" Hourglass was asking, sounding more curious than concerned. "You... I think I know you. What's your name?"

"Heh, funny," The ghost spoke, stepping back into what Stopwatch quickly realized was a defensive stance. _He doesn't trust us. Smart._ _Hourglass wouldn't hurt him, but me... Why do I want to hit him? I just met the guy! I've been spending too much time training._ "Because I- uh- totally don't know you."

"Well, that was kind of rude." Stopwatch crossed his arms, taking a step towards the ghost who stepped back in what seemed to be fear. "She just asked your name!"

Another ghost came forward from in the room, throwing one of her arms around the new one's shoulders. "Infinite Hour. That's his name."

Infinite just looked annoyed as the ghost lifted up a juice box with her free hand and drank some through the straw. "I _never_ agreed to that."

"Neither did I," Clockwork floated forward from the room, looking absolutely pissed. "Tardis, let go of him. He can go home. His Timeline could have the second coming for all I care, he doesn't matter."

The female ghost, Tardis, let go of Infinite and spun to face Clockwork. "Yes, he does. You know what doesn't matter? Your opinion on this. You can flash your fancy staff around all you want, but I refuse to take orders from someone who let a child die and didn't step in!"

Hourglass made some sort of choked high-pitched sound, and Stopwatch took it as his clue to step in with a distraction before stuff started getting thrown. He kicked the bag of peas forward, watching as they bumped into Tardis' foot.

"Whoops, sorry," He held up his hands in mock surrender, doing his best not to flinch as both her and Clockwork gave him glares that could curdle milk. "I had an accident." Infinite lifted a hand to cover his mouth, and Stopwatch took the opportunity to grab onto his other one. "We're all just going to go while you guys clean it up and settle your differences. Preferably without stabbing this time, hmm? Hourglass, come." He grabbed onto her wrist as well just for good measure, dragging both ghosts out of the hallway.

Once they had reached a safe distance away from the upcoming scream fest, Infinite pulled his hand away. He took a couple steps back, regarding both ghosts with a suspicious look. "And you two are...?"

"Oh! Sorry, heh..." Hourglass stepped forward, playing with her braid as she dipped into a small curtsy. "My name is Hourglass. Via Ghost Customs, I am Clockwork's charge, and one of the four Elite Time Apprentices. I possess the timey power of Age Manipulation. This is Stopwatch, another Elite. He is a Reality Manipulator, with an amazing ability for making bad jokes. What is your power?"

_Note to self: make the sarcasm suck less. Also, Hourglass is being way too friendly with this shit. He needs to leave._

Infinite blinked twice, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wow, uh... What a question. I'm uh, um..." He glanced at the medallion around his neck, "A shape shifter...? Yeah, shape shifter, let's go with that."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Stopwatch was doing a victory dance. _Hah! She hates shape shifters. She said so herself! Well, I guess you aren't going to be her friend after all, Infinite Hour. That spot's already taken by me._

_...God, that's a really stupid name._ _I almost pity him._

"Oh," For a brief second, Hourglass seemed confused. But it was soon replaced with a wide smile. "Cool! Could you demonstrate? Please?"

_Wait, what? No. No, no, no this isn't right! Hourglass, stop! You hate shape shifters!_

Infinite appeared confused by the request, and he took another step back. "Uh, not right now. I'm going to go get some Starbucks or something... Yeah... Bye?"

He didn't wait for a reply before he turned around, rushing out of the Time Tower.

"...Bye, Infinite..."

Stopwatch didn't bother masking his shock and fear at Hourglass' statement, his fists clenching as it shifted into one of anger. That pathetic excuse for a ghost had no right to come in and ruin everything Stopwatch had been working towards. Hourglass couldn't befriend him; he couldn't lose her. Stopwatch refused to lose the only person who cared for him.

It didn't matter what he had to do; Infinite Hour would not be allowed near his one friend. He would not steal her away.

.-.-.-.-.-.

True to the doctor's words, Danny had been allowed to return home Friday. Though honestly, he was starting to suspect that his release had more to do with his parents running out of funds than concerns for his well-being. After all, with this recent... Development... Even Danny had to admit it didn't make any sense to let him go. Despite the Epilepsy brochures and medications which had been sent home with him, and the bracelet identifying his disability which had been placed on his ankle, Danny couldn't see the logic. He had nearly died and made a miraculous recovery, after all.

It was now Sunday night- Monday morning, technically-, and as much as he tried, Danny couldn't sleep. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he'd been sleeping as much as he could over the weekend, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that the reality of his situation was finally reaching him.

He had a disability. The electricity from the portal had affected his brain, and now he was Epileptic. As if crazy parents and a genius sister hadn't set him apart enough, now he had the potential to have seizures whenever certain currently unidentified triggers happened. And the seizures weren't all shaking either. No, those were just the most common type. Another type would apparently have him zone out and possibly experience hallucinations, and another could have one of his limbs suddenly jerk about.

But it still didn't make any sense. Danny honestly could not fit the pieces together in his mind. How did a hallucination hurt him? That didn't seem like it should be possible. The pain he had felt before his seizure at the hospital... It didn't seem normal. The doctors even thought he'd imagined it!

But Danny knew he hadn't. There had been someone there, and they had hurt him. It didn't matter what the doctors believed; Danny knew he wasn't alone. He couldn't have been alone, there had to have been someone there!

A crash on the floor below Danny's room caused him to tense, and he silently cursed his dad for making so much noise on a midnight trip for fudge. That is, until a couple of seconds later when Danny heard faint snoring. He frowned, standing up and moving towards the door. _Wait, Dad's the only one who snores, let alone loud enough for me to hear. That means there's somebody else in the house..._

_Oh god, there's someone in my house._

Against his better judgement, Danny slowly moved out of his room and towards the stairs. Somewhere in his mind, what he was doing seemed completely irrational. If there was really someone in his house, he should go wake his parents. But the logical part of his brain seemed to have been taken hostage by a much stronger part which was all but screaming that it would be much better if he went downstairs.

Danny couldn't explain it, but he let the mental tug lead him on, grabbing a broom which leaned against the wall before moving silently down the stairs.

He could hear muffled sounds coming from the kitchen. Holding the broom like a bat and swallowing the lump in his throat, Danny hesitantly looked around the corner. What he saw was a faint light in the room, the fridge door open, and something flailing under a pile of breakfast sausages come to life.

_...Mom, this is why you aren't allowed to cook. Our burglar is now being mauled by breakfast. _

_Who the heck would be stupid enough to break in here anyways?! Do they need a better sign than the giant glowing one out front?!_

Taking a deep breath, Danny let out a loud shout and threw the broom at the sausage mound. The sausages jumped towards it, surrounding the broom, and Danny rushed forward to grab it before they lost interest. He threw it in the fridge, slamming the door shut and causing darkness to cover the room.

Well, at least for two seconds it did. Than Danny turned around, and was treated to a harsh glow and a slightly taller boy staring him in the eyes.

"What the heck?!" He exclaimed, stumbling back as the other boy did the same.

"You... You see me?!" The boy seemed paranoid, terrified almost.

"No, I see a dead duck!" Danny replied, briefly wondering why the boy's voice seemed almost familiar. "Dude, what the... Are you... Are you glowing?!" _And why does your voice echo?! That's not normal!_

The boy looked at a hand before running it through his almost glaringly white hair. Which honestly looked in desperate need of a brush. "Apparently. Look, you see me, right? Not a figure, not just hearing a voice...?"

"N-no...?" Danny couldn't stop his voice from shaking, "You're... You're all there." _I know you. Where do I know you from?_

The boy smiled, briefly looking down at his hands. "Excellent." He took another step towards Danny, who was now plastered against the fridge. "Listen to me, human. I will only say this once, and then I will hurt you if you do not comply. Let. Me. _Go._ I did not come this far just to be leashed again. You have no business keeping me here, let me go. ...Please."

It was the 'let me go' that gave it away. Danny felt fear rise up in his throat, and he quit making eye contact with the body of his hallucination. "W-what? W-who are you?" _I'm going to die. I always knew I'd die on a Monday._

"...Well, who are you?"

"I asked you first!"

"And I asked you second!" The boy snapped, and Danny swore his green eyes got brighter with every word. "Who are you?!"

Danny attempted to flatten himself against the fridge, not bothering to hide his fear any longer. "I... Danny! I'm Danny! ...Please don't hurt me."

The boy blinked twice, stepping back. "...Okay, _Danny,_ I think-"

Danny didn't wait to hear the rest. The second he could and consequences be darned, Danny pulled the fridge door open and raced past the taller boy. He heard his shout of surprise as the broom fell out, presumably hitting him. A louder scream followed, most likely because of the sausages, but Danny ignored it.

_I need Mom. Or Dad. Preferably Mom. Or Jazz._

A feeling of pins and needles started in the fingertips of his left hand, and Danny suddenly felt as if he was running through a spider's web. The spider's web feeling left as Danny reached the stairs, but he'd only gone up two when pain suddenly coursed through him. And Danny screamed as loud as his lungs would allow.

The next thing he knew, he was at the bottom of the stairs. It took a while before he could think straight again, and a little longer before he processed what had happened. Jazz was now on her knees beside him, and a light was turned on. "Danny? Are... Are you okay? You fell, and I... Are you hurt?"

"Jazz...?" He slowly lifted his head, trying to clear the fog which remained in his mind. "Why am I-" He stopped, taking notice of the now flickering black and white figure a little ways away from his sister.

"Danny?!" Jazz's voice betrayed her fear, and Danny let out a high pitched sound. "Danny, what is it?"

Danny's only reply was to do something he hadn't done since he was a child; he grabbed onto his sister, as if holding her would simply protect him, and tried to hold in the tears he knew were coming. Jazz didn't protest, and she slowly wrapped her arms around him.

"It'll be okay, little brother," Her voice shook, but Danny barely noticed it. The figure was moving away from them now, shaking his head. "It has to be okay."

"They're siblings," The figure mumbled, and then he was gone. And without the fear holding his emotions in, Danny broke down.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Tucker was honestly surprised when he saw Danny sitting in the cafeteria during Monday's lunch. He was even more surprised to see his sister sitting beside Danny. Honestly, Tucker had been under the assumption that she ate lunch in the library with the nerds. Or in the bathroom, since a lot of the girls seemed to do that.

But in the end, Tucker wasn't complaining. His best friend was back, and they could put what had happened with the portal behind them. If his sister started tagging along for a bit to watch over Danny, well, Tucker supposed it wouldn't be that big of deal.

A scene flashed through his mind, of everyone dressed in black sobbing around a coffin, and Tucker shivered. Having Jazz shadowing them for a little bit was definitely much better than that alternative.

"Danny!" He called, coming to sit across from his friend. "You live!"

Jazz gave Tucker an absolutely terrifying glare, which Danny seemed to miss as he silently waved. It was then that Tucker realized exactly how... How _damaged_ his best friend looked.

"Dude," Tucker blinked twice, leaning towards Danny. "You look horrible."

"No, really?" Danny replied, his voice sounding almost raspy. He apparently noticed it, because he coughed before speaking again. "Thanks Captain Obvious for that joyous reminder. It's not like I just got electrocuted or anything."

"No problem," Tucker smiled, watching as his friend began to tear open his salt packets and dump them onto the fries he'd gotten. "Nice to see that you're back to your old eating habits. How you can stand that much salt?" _Well, at least this proves he's not secretly a demon or something. That would be ironic._

Danny shrugged, "It's my superpower, obviously." He placed a fry in his mouth, and the smile which had appeared on his face disappeared. Danny's face twisted into one of almost disgust, and Tucker swore he heard an echo-y gasp from somewhere behind his friend. Danny choked, and Jazz quickly put a napkin in front of his mouth.

"Spit it out, Danny," She urged. "Come on, spit it out."

Reluctantly, Danny complied. When Tucker saw his friend's face, it was scarlet. "I'm not a child, Jazz." Danny glared at his sister, looking furious. "You don't need to treat me like a baby in front of my friend."

He stood up, gathered his stuff, and left. Jazz looked over at Tucker, the death glare back on her face. "Thanks for that. That was the first thing he's eaten all day." She stood up and left too, leaving Tucker to wonder exactly how it was his fault.

Ten minutes and a burger later, Tucker walked out of the cafeteria in search of his best friend. _Okay. If I was trying to escape an older sister and die of embarrassment in peace, where would I go...? This would be a lot easier if I... Nope, not going there. Not even going to touch on that._

He settled on roaming the halls, looking for any clue of Danny. Instead he found Sam, who stormed from the office looking absolutely pissed.

"Who crapped in your cornflakes?" Tucker asked, trying to hide his amusement at her anger.

"Who crapped in my cornflakes? I'm a vegan! You put milk in cornflakes, remember?" She spat aggressively. "And besides, it's carnivores like you that kept my new vegan diet from being passed!"

"Uh-huh, and thank god for that." Tucker shrugged, "Have you seen Danny?"

Sam took a deep breath, "No. But my guess is that he is at home sleeping. Why?"

"I saw him at lunch, but stuff happened and he stormed off." He left out why Danny had stormed out, deciding that it would be better if he didn't embarrass Danny around his potential crush. "Look, do you have any idea where he could be?"

Sam was silent for a moment as she thought. "Locker, maybe? It's on the less popular end of school so nobody ever goes there during lunch."

Tucker nodded, "Yeah, thanks." He started off in the direction of it, only slightly aware of Sam following him. Her theory was soon revealed to be correct; Danny stood in front of his open locker, moving stuff around inside. Tucker was just about to call out and get Danny's attention, when an unfortunately familiar jock brushed past him, the rest of his crowd following.

_Dash. Oh, poor Danny._

"Hey Fen-dead," The jock taunted. "Too bad your suicide attempt didn't pan out."

Danny pulled his head out of his locker, looking back at Dash. "...Wait, what?"

_That's what I was going to say!_

The A-listers all laughed before Dash continued. "Oh come on, not even a loser like you is stupid enough to have an accident like that. Too bad you didn't succeed though. The world would be a much better place without you around."

Tucker clasped a hand over his mouth. They thought Danny's accident had been him trying to _kill _himself?! That was stupid! Danny would never do something like that! And what Dash had said... Tucker wanted nothing more than to run over and punch the jock in his ugly face. He supposed it was fear that kept his feet rooted to the ground. Danny would never kill himself! He wouldn't! And the world would _not _be better without Danny! What right did Dash have to say that?!

"Damn it Rebecca, fuck, Mia too." Sam muttered, "I told them not to tell anyone about the accident!"

Danny stared up at Dash, looking absolutely destroyed by the jock's comment. "I... No, it wouldn't! Shut up!"

That time, Dash laughed. "What, did I strike one of you nerves? They're just about as short as you are. God, just wait until everybody finds out that Fenton here is suicidal and depressed." Again the crowd dissolved into giggles and snorts at something that wasn't remotely funny.

Danny stood, looking up at Dash. "I am _not! _Shut up, Dash! I'm not dealing with your crud today! Why can't you just be a decent human being for once in your life and leave me alone?!"

"Why? So you can sit in a corner and cry yourself to sleep?" The jock taunted without a hint of remorse in his voice.

"I don't do that!" Danny was nearly screaming now, "Why can't you just go away?! Leave me alone!"

"Awww," Dash cooed in an obvious sarcastic way. "Baby Danny wants to be alone. Well, I can help with that." A sudden smirk appeared on Dash's face as he advanced towards his favorite victim.

Danny stepped back, but didn't manage to stop Dash from pushing him into the locker. One of his friends closed the door, the A-listers high-fived each other, and walked off laughing.

"Eraa, yjsy esd eoaf gtpz dysty yp gomodj."

Sam poked Tucker on the shoulder, "What was that? It sounded like gibberish."

Tucker frowned, looking around. No one else besides them was in the hallway. "...I didn't say anything." A brief sense of concern washed over Tucker, but he ignored it as he finally found the strength to rush over to Danny's locker.

"Go away," Danny was whispering, "Go away, leave me alone just go away..."

"Yeah, I'm not leaving you in there." Tucker spoke up, looking down at the lock. "What's your com?"

"...Tucker?" Danny sounded confused, "Tucker, what are you do-"

"Ejsy yjr jrss od s Yivlrt?" He was cut off by more gibberish, coming from somewhere behind Tucker. Yet when he looked, there was nothing.

"Okay...?" Tucker shrugged, playing with the lock. "Danny, the combination? The com? The magical numbers that let me open the locker...?"

"O-oh," Danny's voice shook slightly, and Tucker nearly missed it. "Uh, 15-23-05."

Tucker put it in, Sam coming up to stand beside him. He pulled the door open, helping Danny pull himself out of the locker. Danny stumbled back once he reached the ground, rubbing his shoulders. "...Thank you. When did you guys...?"

"Just in time to see Dash shove you in there," Sam cut in, lying through her teeth. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Danny muttered, and he quit making eye contact. A wave of guilt overcame Tucker; he should've stepped in. He should've done _something_ other than stand just there!

Everyone was silent for a moment, before Sam spoke. "Danny... How are you doing?"

"I... Well, I'm not dead." Danny replied, shrugging. "At least that's something." He lifted his head, looking as if he was about to make some dumb joke. But instead his face went pale and he stumbled backwards. It took Tucker a second to realize he seemed to be staring at something just behind him, but when he checked to see what it was, there was nothing.

"Danny...?" He trailed off, looking at his obviously terrified best friend. "Are you okay?"

Danny shook his head, "No, I... I have to go." He turned and ran, and from somewhere behind Tucker, the gibberish speaker sounded annoyed.

"Htrsy, er'tr fpomh yjod shsom."

There were a few moments of silence before Tucker turned towards Sam, who looked just as confused as he did. "So..."

"So..."

"...Why'd you lie?"

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Do you really think Danny needs to hear that his best friend watched that happen and did nothing? No, he doesn't. Honestly Tucker, I thought you were the smart one. But we have something much more important to focus on," She looked in the direction Danny had run off in. "There's something very wrong with Danny. And we need to find out what."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny sat at the kitchen table, attempting to figure out his math homework and failing. He couldn't focus; his mind kept drifting back to what had happened at lunch.

Why did stuff like this always have to happen to him? Why did Dash have to hate him so much, and why did he have to see such a creepy person following him around? Seriously, the guy had been at his school. It didn't matter if he was a hallucination or not, why did it always have to be the same weird looking albino?!

_Why can't I just be normal?_ _And more importantly, why can't I figure this crap out?_

"I don't care about pie charts," Danny muttered, flicking his pencil. "Why would anyone ever care about this crap? When will this be useful? It's not like one day I'm going to stand up and be like, 'hey, you know what would be helpful right now? A pie chart!'"

A voice behind Danny made him jump. "Actually pie charts are a great way of relaying information."

Danny looked back, letting out a loud groan. "Darn it, Jazz! I don't care!" He looked back at his homework, ignoring the shiver which ran up his spine. "...Wait, where'd my pencil go?"

Jazz raised her eyebrows at her little brother. "Missing your pencil?" She asked, watching him look around his books and on the ground. "Well, I'm missing an essay that is due tomorrow."

"And that is my problem... How?" Danny stood, making his way to the counter and pulling open a junk drawer. "Where the heck are all our pencils?! I'd even settle for a darn crayon right now! It could even be red!"

Jazz ignored his comment. "Danny, I know that your class was doing the same essay topic, although I don't know why. I also know that you really need to pass this. Danny, did you take it? You could have just asked for my help."

"Yes, Jazz," Danny looked back at his sister, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I stole it. Because you know, your writing could _totally _be passed off as mine when we have the exact same teacher. Seriously though, Lancer gave me an extension. I have enough time to throw some stuff together and do my own." He went back to searching for a pencil.

Jazz groaned loudly. "Then where is it? Danny honestly, have you seen it? This essay is worth a large portion of my mark!" She watched him continue looking for his pencil. "For the love of god here, have mine."

Danny took the pencil from his sister, shrugging as he sat back down. "Thanks. And I haven't. Go ask Mom, maybe Dad fudged it up or something."

Again Jazz groaned, before turning towards the lab. It was a room that both she and Danny had wanted to avoid at all costs since the accident. Their parents were the only ones who'd liked that room in the first place, after all. Before she left, Jazz spoke. "You know you can tell me anything, right Danny?"

"I know," Danny replied, flicking his sister's pencil along the table. "Trust me, I know."

His sister left, and for a few minutes everything was quiet. And then Danny felt an intense chill run up his spine, and a breath of fogged air came out of his mouth. A slight chill also passed through his left hand.

_Oh, that can't be good. Hey, wait,_ he lifted his hand, staring at the table below it. _Where's Jazz's pencil? Great, it got worse._

After a quick check of the floor revealed nothing, Danny found himself looking all around his books. He found neither pencil, much to his annoyance and confusion.

_Crap. Well, this is just great. Guess I can't do my homework now. That's just wonderful._

As if in reply, he felt what could best be described as a mental tug of sorts. He bit his lip, trying to ignore it, but instead Danny found himself letting it pull him out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and stop in front of his room.

Danny swallowed, trying to suppress the fear rising up in his throat. He could turn back now. He should turn back now. But something kept him there, and though he wasn't sure what it was, he let it.

Hesitantly, Danny slowly opened the door and looked around his room. There was nothing in his bed, nothing on his desk chair... _That sounds like pencil scratches._

Danny tilted his head upwards, looking up at his roof. Right next to his light sat the same boy who had been in his kitchen the night before, with several pieces of paper in one hand, at least seven pencils in his mouth, and one in his hand.

"What the heck?!" Danny screeched, startling the boy. He fell down onto Danny's bed, the pencils and papers hitting the floor around him. Danny stumbled back as well, bumping into his door and knocking it closed.

"Owie," The boy muttered, lifting his head. "Why would you do that?"

"You were on the roof," Danny sounded a lot calmer than he felt, "You were sitting on my bedroom roof."

"...Well, yeah." The boy sat up, cradling his left arm. "I needed better lighting."

"No," Danny stared ahead, watching the boy sit up and pull pieces of a broken pencil from his hair. "You were sitting on the roof like you sit on the ground."

The boy paused for just long enough to give Danny an annoyed glare. "No, really? I hadn't noticed." He started trying to gather up the paper that had fallen on the ground, and Danny reached out to pick up one.

'"How Shakespeare Shaped the Modern World through His Plays and Writing' by Jasmine Fenton," Danny muttered, ignoring the little doodles drawn on the corners. "This is my sister's essay!"

The boy looked over at Danny, briefly confused. "...So?"

"She's looking for it! And you stole it; put it in my room..." Danny's fear finally showed, "H-how did you do that? You aren't real!" _You can't be real!_

The boy looked as if he had been slapped, and a look of fury was evident on his face. "I am _so_ real! I exist, and I never stopped doing so. If you knew anything about whom I am or what I could do, you would be wise enough to not make such claims in front of me."

A scream for help died in Danny's throat, and he strongly regretted the fact that his doors only opened in.

"You're pathetic." The boy scoffed, walking towards Danny. It was then that he realized the boy's feet didn't quite touch the ground, making him taller than he already was. "You don't show your fear like that. That doesn't get you sympathy, that gets you pain." He reached out, hand locking around Danny's wrist as he pulled him forwards. "And besides, I know it's fake. You're a horrible actor."

_Mom! Jazz! Dad!_ Danny attempted to scream, but all that came out was a quiet high pitched sound.

The boy rolled his eyes, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a flash of light. Danny lifted a hand to shield his eyes, and when he lowered it a moment later the boy was gone. And what was almost the feeling of pins and needles had covered his body.

Or... So he thought the boy had left.

The boy was standing beside him, but looked... Off, somehow. He looked as if Danny was only imagining him being there, but Danny swore that wasn't the case. He knew the boy was there, yet it appeared he wasn't. Danny supposed the best explanation would be that he was only seeing him with his mind's eye, and not actually _seeing _him.

"_What the hell?"_ The boy asked, looking down at his hands. His voice sounded more like a thought than an actual spoken phrase. He appeared terrified for a brief moment, and then looked towards Danny. _"What did you do? Let me go! For the love of the powers above, I didn't do anything!"_

"Yeah, bull." Danny spoke, feeling as if he was in complete control. _It doesn't matter what you are anymore. I win._ "You've been terrorizing me all day. Whatever's happening, you deserve every bit of it." He lifted up a white-gloved hand and flicked a strand of white hair from his face. "Besides, you- wait." He looked at his hands, eyes wide at the gloves which covered them.

"_What did you do to my hands?!"_

"Your hands?!" Danny found himself sliding down to the wall, and wasn't entirely sure when he reached the ground. "These are _my _hands!" _Why am I wearing gloves?! This isn't normal!_

"_No, I'm pretty sure they're mine!"_

"These are my hands! Get your own!"

"_Give me back my hands! And take off the stupid gloves, you idiot!"_

"Don't call me an idiot! You're the one who can't recognize his own hands!"

"_Because you stole them!"_

"For the love of god, I didn't steal your darn hands!" Danny snapped, talking much louder than he meant to. The pins and needles feeling left his left arm as the boy glanced down towards his own arm.

"_Stop lying!"_ He snapped, and his left hand shot out in some sort of wild hand motion in Danny's direction. Danny flinched, only to find nothing had hit him. Though, his own left arm was now rather sore...

Taking a chance, Danny looked to his left side. What he assumed was his arm- and if it wasn't for the sudden change of clothes, he wouldn't have any doubt- had punched the dresser and was now being brought back to his side.

_W-what? I... I don't... _"I didn't do that! What did you do to my arm?! Give it back!"

"_But it's not your arm, is it? In fact, the clothes look more like mine. ...If they had been run over by a wagon... You had bare arms, and these have sleeves. Obviously they're mine!"_

The pins and needles feeling left Danny, as did the feeling of control. He was now helpless, trapped in a body that wasn't his. "Let me go!"

"_Well, that's the kettle calling the pot black."_

"It's pot calling the kettle black."

"_...Oh fuck you."_

Danny tried to protest as the body stood, floating slightly off the ground as the boy had. He could do nothing, he was trapped in a body that was not his own. And if to make matters worse, to taunt him, scenes started to flash through his mind.

He kept seeing this pale little blond girl, who was always either speaking some language Danny couldn't understand or playing some instrument. She seemed to regard Danny- or whoever he currently was- with a lot of fondness. Every scene was her doing one thing, her playing this instrument, her throwing grapes or something at whoever Danny was, her laughing as she handed a flower towards him a little later...

A flash of light cut all that off, and Danny landed on the tile of his kitchen floor. The boy was standing a little ways away, staring at him, his face seemingly stuck between fury and fear.

Danny moved himself into a sitting position, "When did I-"

"You weren't supposed to do that." The boy stepped back, shaking his head. "That is _my _mind! Those are my memories! Not yours! So leave them _alone!_"

"Sorry!" Danny slid back, his hand bumping against the table. "Look, that was an accident; I really don't care about that weird blond girl-"

"You... You...!" The boy took a stopped, sounding absolutely pissed. And... A little bit scared. "You do not get to toy with my memories of her! If you ever do anything like that again, I'll... I'll... I'll do this!" His form seemed to flicker, and he shot upwards through the roof.

_Okay... That's weird..._ _Seriously though, when did I get in the kitchen?_

The sound of footsteps distracted him, and Danny turned to see his sister come out of the lab. She seemed confused when she noticed him. "...Why are you on the floor? Danny, are you okay?"

"I..." Danny trailed off; a familiar feeling of dread rose up in him as the pins and needles starting in his left hand. "Oh no." _This is quicker than last time. Oh god, oh god..._

"Danny?!" Jazz was rushing over to his side, "Danny, come on, talk-"

Danny cut her off as the pain crushed him, and he screamed.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Blacklist, you jackass!" Tardis screamed before slamming her bedroom door. "Idiot," She hissed into the empty air of the room. "You'd think after all these years he would know me better. He would know what topics not to talk about! We have a blacklist for a reason! He just- that bastard!"

A sigh escaped her as she walked through the chaotic space. Piles of randomly assorted objects covered the floor, many of them broken in fits of rage. Her steps were small as she navigated the mess until she reached her destination.

It was a wooden desk, too old to identify the brown cracked wood used. "I've got to get a new one of these," She mumbled as she ran her hand along the elderly lumber, stopping when it reached a large porcelain bowl full of water which was placed perfectly in the center of the ancient desk. In most cases, this was all she needed to summon a window through time. And at the moment, when all she needed was a distraction, one would be very useful.

Slowly, Tardis sat in the chair next to the desk. She let her hand fall into the bowl of cool water. For reasons unknown, the liquid was always clear and cool, never in need of changing. Careful not to get the desk wet, Tardis moved her hand around, and let water fall through her fingers as she moved them.

"Mary..." She said to nothing, referring to an old friend whom the bowl had belonged to. "I'm sorry. I should've... But I didn't." Tardis shook her head, brushing strands of hair from her face. She refused to let herself cry. Again she went back to running her hand through the clear water. Her eyes followed the pictures on the walls of the room. Many of them had been drawn or painted many years before, although she would never understand why she had kept them. They were all absolutely horrible, after all.

One picture of an apple stuck out at her. Only, it was far different from the rest. This painting had not been painted by Tardis out of boredom, but a little five year old boy, whom they had all called Prince.

A long time ago, back when life seemed okay, before everything had fallen apart, Prince had given her that painting in an attempt to make her feel better about her recent break up. But now... Prince was gone. Honestly, truly, gone. Clockwork had killed him. Well, kind of. She supposed Stopwatch should be blamed as well. But not Hourglass, never Hourglass, that child had enough guilt issues as it was. Still, Tardis had promised years ago that she would protect Prince no matter what, but now the promise had been broken.

She didn't know whether she had meant to do it, but all her suppressed emotion had triggered her power. It flooded into the water and opened up a window through time. Tardis removed her hand, and was astounded at what she saw.

It was a white-haired teenage boy, sitting on the roof of a building with a strange UFO-like structure on top. She had seen the building many times throughout Clockwork's Timelines, and easily identified it as Fenton Works. He had his arms wrapped around his knees, and was looking out at the world around him. And his eyes had the obvious marks of tears.

But Tardis didn't care, none of that mattered. She would know him in a heartbeat, and even though many years had passed, that didn't change a thing.

"Prince. He's alive?" She ignored the fact that they were ghosts; she and Clockwork had both been ghosts for so long that just being in existence had become their alive. "But... How? That portal, those destroy ghosts! There has to be... Human blood. He found a human! He's connected! Okay, Fenton Works, so was it maybe... A Danny? Wait, the ghost sense! He found _him?_ Why didn't we...? He was a Flicker! It fits! Oh, Prince!" Her sadness and anger was replaced with almost childlike giddiness. A smile took over her face, and she moved the window so it would zoom in on Prince.

He looked like he needed a hairbrush more than anything, honestly. But other than that, he was physically okay. Mentally, if his eyes were anything to go by, he was anything but. He had started crying again, and Tardis could easily make out his mutters.

"I can't do this. I can't stay here, I can't leave... I want to go home. I don't want to do this anymore. I want my daddy!" He buried his head again, and his body shook with sobs. "I-I'm sorry. I'll never leave again. I'll do what I'm told; I'll take my punishment... I'm sorry!"

Tardis felt dread rise up in her. That _did not_ sound like the bubbly child she used to babysit. That sounded like someone who had been broken down to a point where they believed everything that went wrong was their entire fault.

She knew this. She'd certainly heard the tone enough from Clockwork over the years. _Damn Observants._

Prince had broken. With what had happened it was no surprise, but he was still so young! He should be able to find some youthful optimism, something, anything!

She couldn't stand to see him like that. Tardis jumped to her feet, rushing out of her room. _Hang on, Prince; I'm going to get you back. _"Clockwork! Clockwork, where are you?! I need to talk to you!"

The Master of Time looked out from one of the rooms, "Wow, you matured faster than I thought you would. Done whining over how shitty your life is yet?"

_Fuck. He's still stuck like this? _Tardis frowned before grabbing the nearest object- a vase- and throwing it at him. Clockwork moved out of the way at the last second, causing it to shatter on the wall behind him. "Oh, go to hell!"

"Already there. It's called living with you."

"Oh? I'm worse than the Observants?" She spat, bringing up a time they'd both rather be forgotten. "I should get that in writing!"

"Oh please, I would rather jump off the Time Tower than spend another day with _them._" Clockwork made a face, as if he was trying to repress a thought.

"And yet you let Prince suffer with them for a year. Well, I guess it can't be worse than living with me!" She spun around, storming back to her room. "Next time I see you, you'd better be begging for me to accept your apology. Or is that just reserved for when you murder children, Dil?"

Clockwork crossed his arms, "Well, than I guess you'll never see me again. And Dil? Who do you think you are, Time Twister?!"

"Oh, if only! And asshat? Blacklist!" Tardis stormed back to her room, slamming the door as she did. Outside, she heard the sound of something from the walls crashing to the ground.

_Fucking jackass. We have a fucking blacklist! I don't care how stressed he is, we need to save Prince!_ She balled her fists, glaring back at the closed door. _But if he can't function without treating me like this, then I'll find someone else to help me. I don't need Clockwork on my side for this, I'll find someone better! I'll use Infinite! Or... Or something! I don't need him; nobody does!_

As much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, Tardis couldn't deny the pain at the loss of her once best friend which burned at her core.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Tucker pulled on his gym shorts, shooting a quick glance towards where his best friend was changing into his gym strip. Or at least, where he should be.

Danny had run off near the end of last class, claiming he'd really needed to use the bathroom. Tucker could already guess what rumors would be forming, and he hated it. Danny didn't deserve the hate he got, he deserved everything _but_ it! He was a wonderful person- smart, funny, great at video games, and he actually cared about people. Danny didn't deserve to be hated.

And if it weren't for his parents, Tucker was sure he wouldn't be. But no, the elder Fentons just had to have Danny live in their shadow, along with that of their Ops Center. Which as cool as it was, didn't end well for Danny.

Tucker pushed his stuff off to the side, heading out into the gym before recalling they'd be having class outside. He made a quick detour to the hallway, and after a moment of rushed footsteps Sam fell into step behind him. "Hey."

"Hey," Tucker replied, looking around. "Where are your friends?"

"Who? Oh, you mean Mia and Rebecca! Right." Sam rolled her eyes, taking on an annoyed tone as she spoke of her female friends. "Mia's pretending to have hurt her ankle so she won't have to do gym. She tripped on the way here and Rebecca took her to the office. What about you? Where's Danny?"

"I don't have a clue. Bathroom, probably." Tucker shrugged, but two teachers- one being Mr. Lancer and the other being Mr. Lock, the History teacher- running down the hallway cut off anything he was about to say. Sam pulled him off to the side, and Tucker caught sight of a first aid kit in Lancer's hands.

"...That better not be for Mia," Sam mumbled, and the two teachers rushed into a boy's washroom. "Oh, thank god."

Tucker frowned, and quickly identified which hallway they were in. It was the same one as Lancer's classroom, which he had been in just last period. If Danny had actually gone into the bathroom- and Tucker was starting to doubt he had- he would most likely have been in that one. He took a step towards it, hesitating a second before taking another.

Tucker knew the chances were slim, but he didn't want to risk it. With everything that had been going on since Danny's accident, he didn't want to.

"Tucker!" Sam groaned, "What are you doing? Tetslaff is going to skin us if we're late!"

"Then go to class!" Tucker gave her an annoyed look, "You don't have to come with me. Why would you? It's the _guy's _washroom."

"...You don't think they're going in there to find Danny, do you?" Sam appeared genuinely concerned, and Tucker started moving towards the washroom again.

"I sure hope not," He muttered. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side- and apparently, not Danny's either.

His friend had been the cause of the teacher's concern. Danny sat on the floor and leaned against the wall, one hand on his forehead. Lancer and Lock were kneeling in front of him, and Lancer managed to move Danny's hand away from his forehead. On it, there was a large cut. Danny's hair was caught in it, and the section where his hand had been was now stained dark red. The sink above him also had the same stain on an edge.

Tucker turned away, gagging at the sight of the blood.

"Mr. Fenton, what happened?" Mr. Lancer was asking, wiping the blood off of Danny's hands.

"I... I..." Danny had started biting his lip, "Ow..."

"Were you high or something?" Lancer continued, "You know we don't tolerate drug use in this school."

"Hey, shush." Mr. Lock sounded annoyed, and held a bit of gauze on Danny's forehead. "Daniel, right? Can you tell me what day it is?"

"...Monday?" Danny mumbled, "I always knew I'd die on a Monday..."

"...Daniel," Mr. Lock spoke plainly, "Today's Tuesday."

"...Oh," Danny's eyes briefly focused on Tucker. "Hi, Tuck."

"Hi, Danny," Tucker whispered, and Lancer turned back towards Tucker.

"Mr. Foley, don't you have class to get to?"

"But..." Tucker's voice caught in his throat, "Danny's my best friend."

"And your best friend is going to need a visit to the hospital," Lock spoke up, shifting Danny so that he'd be able to help him stand. "Because he might be needing stitches and will need treatment for a concussion."

"Oh," Danny muttered, holding down the gauze which had been left on his forehead. Lancer also moved in to support the teen. "My parents aren't going to be happy."

"Then bleed on them. That should change their mind." Lock shrugged, and looked towards Tucker. "Get to class. You can't do anything for him, okay? Let us handle this." He didn't wait for a reply, and him and Lancer half-dragged Danny out of the washroom. Tucker went out after them, watching Danny for a brief moment.

"Eraa, yjsy vpiaf'br hpmr s noy nryyrt. Pj eraa, oy dyoaa eptld."

_...Okay?_ Tucker looked around attempting to find the source of the gibberish. Instead he found Sam, looking in the direction Danny had been dragged off in.

"We should... We should get to class." She grabbed his arm, "Tucker, come on."

"...Yeah, I know." Sighing, Tucker moved to follow Sam out of the school. He hated feeling so helpless! Danny was struggling, he was hurting... And Tucker couldn't help him. He couldn't do anything! _Danny..._

A loud scream cut into his thoughts, and Tucker froze. There was barely any delay; he rushed in the direction Danny had been dragged, Sam at his heels. They found Lancer acting as a barrier, insisting they head to class as the late bell rang in the background.

But it didn't register with Tucker, because just past Lancer, he could see Danny's legs jerk and shake.

_Just like he did after he came out of the portal..._

And just beyond Danny, Tucker almost swore he could make out a flickering figure leaning against a locker with a shivering frame, like one would have if they laughed or cried.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch leaned against a wall, wiping the crumbs from his hands onto his pants.

_I thank whatever power above thought giving Tardis cooking skills was a good idea. That was a damn good soufflé._

The kitchen's door squeaked as it opened, and Stopwatch leaned forwards. With his luck, he'd probably have to leave the food room or face _certain_ idiotic ghosts.

_Damn shape shifters. Nobody gives a fuck about you, Tori, or your weird buddy, or your girlfriend and her fear of bunnies. Why don't you all just go- wait, no, that's not… Hah! Hello good luck, oh how I've missed you!_

The ghost who had entered was another Elite Apprentice, who was usually monitoring some of the other Timelines with the final member of their group. "Hey, Time Turner." _What a dumb name you have. What dumb names we all have. Except for mine, Stopwatch is amazing. And Hourglass' is cute. But everyone else's sucks._

Time Turner stopped his attempts to close the apparently stuck door, looking back at Stopwatch. "Oh, hey. What are you doing here?"

"Sacrificing pineapples to the ghost king." Stopwatch deadpanned as he motioned to a bowl of fruit, and Time Turner looked conflicted for a brief second.

"Uh-huh, you have fun with that." He quickly moved past Stopwatch, opening up one of the fridges. "Do we have any orange juice?"

"All this extravagant food and you want _orange juice?_" Stopwatch attempted to raise one eyebrow but its partner rose with it. He lowered them both in shame. "Time Turner, you continue to disappoint me."

"That's okay, its karma repaying you for all the times you've disappointed everyone." Time Turner straightened up, unscrewing the cap from the carton of orange juice he'd discovered. "You do that a lot, you know."

Stopwatch placed his hand on his chest, mock horror on his face. Time Turner's words left no sting; Stopwatch knew it was true. "Who, me? Why would you ever say such a horrible thing?"

"Because it's true."

"So much love here." Stopwatch pushed Time Turner out of the way, reaching into the fridge for more food. That plan was terminated when the sound of noisy footsteps reached him, and Stopwatch quickly scrambled back to stand at attention. The door squeaked once again, and Hourglass suddenly barreled through, dragging Infinite Hour with her.

"And this is the kitchen!" She smiled, looking around. "Tardis bakes here! Hi, Stopwatch! Time Turner!"

"Hey, Hourglass," Time Turner nodded, carefully putting the orange juice back. "Who's your friend?"

_He's not her friend. Shut up or I'll drown you._

"Call me Infinite, that's what everyone else is doing." He stepped forward, holding out a hand. Time Turner grasped it, and Stopwatch rolled his eyes as the two shook. "Time Turner, huh? Someone was a Harry Potter fan."

Time Turner groaned, "Yeah, and they aren't me. I didn't name myself, that's not part of the customs."

"Customs...?" Infinite shrugged, "Oh yeah, those. The first being a new ghost encounters has to take them in, give them a name, all that fun stuff. Right?"

Time Turner nodded as his hand dropping to his side. Infinite nearly did the same with his, but then moved it to the back of his neck. There was a second of silence before Time Turner spoke again. "So I see your eyes are green. As you can see, my eyes are red. Has anyone explained to you the differences in power they signify yet?"

Hourglass had started playing with her braid. "Infinite, I'm sorry, I should've told them-"

"It's fine, Hourglass." Infinite soothed, and Stopwatch took a confused step towards them. "Yeah, I know about the eyes. And Timey Powers. And the Royal-Rebel divide, and somewhat the customs. I've been a ghost for a few years, my eyes just haven't reached red yet. Stuff got in the way and... Yeah. Benefits of being a shape shifter, which I totally am."

"Told us what?" Stopwatch stepped forward once again, regarding Infinite with a suspicious look.

"He's going to be an Elite with us!" Hourglass said with a huge smile on her face, and Stopwatch tensed. "Isn't it great?"

"That little bastard is going to _what?_" _This is not happening. Not to me. I won't let it! No!_

Infinite raised an eyebrow, "Wow, rude. For the record, I do have a family, so that term was incorrect."

"Aww, the little shit has a family! Did they die with you?" Stopwatch cooed, straightening up so he was at least comparable to Infinite's height. "I'll bet it was your fault, too!"

Infinite paused, and it seemed like Stopwatch had hit a nerve for a few seconds.

"Stopwatch," Hourglass interrupted, "You... You leave him alone!"

"Well at least I actually dress like a guy." Infinite deadpanned, motioning to Stopwatch's chest. "What's the point of all that padding? Are you trying to be a girl?"

Time Turner began to look rather uncomfortable and Stopwatch barely contained his shock. _He noticed the padding? Shit, not good. I'll have to report back that he's perceptive._ "Yes, because being female is totally something people want to do. However, unlike you, I am male."

"Oh, so I'm the girl now?"

"Well you certainly have the hair for it."

"It's masculine!"

"That ain't masculine."

"Learn how to grammar! 'Ain't' isn't a word!"

"Learn how to style! You look like you dumped a can of paint on your head!"

"Learn how to shut the fuck up," Stopwatch looked past his opponent, watching the fifth and final Elite enter the room. She moved towards a pantry, opening its door. "Seriously, I could hear you two morons from across the tower. Nobody cares about your little boy problems."

"...Love you too, Tempest." Stopwatch deadpanned towards the other blue-skinned ghost, and a tiny smile twitched onto Infinite's face.

"Tempest, huh?" He tapped a finger on his chin, "You know, you do look an awful lot like Box Lunch."

Stopwatch stepped back, carefully avoiding being part of the direct path between the two. Tempest crossed the room so fast it was almost as if she had teleported. Her hand wrapped around Infinite's neck, and she threw him into a wall. "Do not compare me to that useless, paradoxical, piece of shit! She has only done something worthwhile in _seven _Timelines_._ I am in charge of _one hundred and four._ Do not compare me in any way to that little annoying excuse for a ghost, or next time I might actually hurt you."

"Okay, Jesus." Infinite sat up, rubbing his left side. "I was just pointing something out, no need to flip."

"Tempest, be nice!" Hourglass called, rushing over to help Infinite up. "You too, Stopwatch! He's an Elite whether you like it or not! Stop being so mean!"

"...Okay, I hate to be the one to bring this up," Time Turner spoke up, clearing his throat. "But uh, we all have actual Timey Powers. Shape shifters, which apparently he is one of, do not. He can't be an Elite."

Hourglass stomped her foot on the ground, "Too bad! We're making an exception for him! Tardis said so!"

"Didn't Clockwork basically tell him to go die in a hole though?" Stopwatch asked, looking towards the shape shifter. "And since he's the Master of Time, shouldn't we honor his wishes?"

"He doesn't like you either, you know." Infinite pointed out, crossing his arms. "Neither does Tardis. So shouldn't we kill you as well?"

Time Turner snorted and Tempest bit down on her thumb to keep from laughing.

"Only if you die first," Stopwatch shot back, "Because then my existence will be complete."

"Aw, your obsession is with murdering _me?"_ Infinite placed a hand on his chest, continuing in a mocking tone. "Danny Phantom must feel so replaced."

The room lapsed into silence for a few moments as Stopwatch stared at the ghost in horror. "You... Who told you about that?" _It couldn't have been Hourglass. It wouldn't. She wouldn't! Tardis, maybe? Clockwork probably doesn't know, but the others... They just met him, and they don't even... I don't understand!_

"I... I did!" Hourglass called, "I was just warning him, I didn't think..."

"No, you didn't." Infinite spoke up, playing with the medallion around his neck. "Don't take the blame for something you didn't do. I found out myself a while ago." He took a step towards Stopwatch, reaching out towards him. "Look, dude, I'm sorry, that was crossing a line. I shouldn't have... Sorry, I forget obsessions were taboo, I didn't mean to-"

Stopwatch swatted his hand away, "Don't touch me." He looked towards the ghost who he'd thought was his best friend, and then towards the other two Elites. "Don't... Don't touch me."

Infinite looked confused for a second before realization dawned on his face and he pulled his hand back. "I won't. Calm down, please? I won't touch you if you don't want me to."

The words didn't register in Stopwatch's mind, neither did Hourglass' concerned whisper of his name. "Don't touch me," He whispered once again, "Don't... Don't touch me... Don't."

Stopwatch took the first opening he got to rush out of the kitchen, locking himself in the first empty room he came across.

He'd been replaced. The closest thing to a friend he'd thought he had replaced him.

_They were right. She doesn't care, they've... They've always been right._

_She deserves better than me, anyway._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Fine, I wasn't there. I shouldn't even be here right now, and we both know it. But that doesn't mean I didn't know them. You aren't the only one who lost everything that day, you know! But we can't change the past. We can't bring them back. Nobody can."

"They weren't me. They didn't know the ghosts I knew, and they didn't fight the battles I fought. I can change it. ...I have to."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Wednesday afternoon had come and Jazz spent it sitting on her bed. In front of her was a piece of paper, full of names crossed out. The names belonged to her friends, which all seemed to be too busy to attend her sixteenth birthday. The actual date was next Tuesday, but she was planning the party for the weekend after it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Jasmine." The latest person she asked- her name was Faith, she was a very nice girl in Jazz's Math class- didn't seem very apologetic as she declined the invitation. "But I already have plans. Maybe next time!" She hung up before Jazz could even say 'bye.'

The red head hung up her phone and crossed out another name on her list. Of the seventeen names on the list, she had called fifteen of them. Each of them had said they couldn't attend. Jazz sighed, not knowing if it was even worth it to call the other two.

Eventually, she closed the book and dropped it onto her floor. She reached on to her nightstand, pulling over the next planning page she had. _I wonder what kind of food everyone would like. I know Danny likes salty things, and at the moment it looks like I'll be partying with him. But is it safe for him to be having them after what happened on Monday? Maybe he just choked... And maybe he didn't..._

Jazz sighed loudly and leaned back, she began remembering how the two had been through their childhood years. They had told each other everything, now Jazz was lucky to hear Danny talk to her at all, and most of the time it was him telling her to go away. If only he would just open up and let her in. She of course, knew that there was something wrong with him, but she couldn't figure it out. Her baby brother almost died and there was nothing she could do to help him...

But this had proved something, and now Jazz could only think of the worst; the things her baby brother could get into without proper parental supervision. Drugs, alcohol, lord knows what else. And his damn friend, what was her name? Sam? Jazz had heard the rumours of that girl, the girl who prayed on the weak, or as she called them, 'unique.' Samantha Manson made friends with the less popular of her peers, talked to them for a week and then ditched them for the next person who caught her interest. Somebody like that was not good for Danny. He was too friendly, too ready to believe anyone who was nice to him was his friend. Jazz knew that the only reason Sam had started to talk to Danny was because of their parents; ghost hunters were pretty unique after all. But why she still pretended to be his friend? Jazz could only guess but she assumed it was because of Danny's illness, because of his Epilepsy. Why Danny would've told Sam about that, however, was beyond her.

Danny didn't need anything to set him farther apart from the other students. However, fate didn't seem to hold the Fenton Family in very high regard. Danny alone was already bullied, and though Jazz wasn't sure how often, she knew it was bad. Almost nothing stayed a secret at their school for long. Besides, her brother wasn't very fond of sweaters or hoodies, and when he got a bruise it was very easy to notice. Jazz could only imagine how much worse it would get if their peers found out about his disability.

Jazz found herself tearing up pages in her notebook. She hated his Epilepsy. She hated how Danny had to have a lingering reminder of his mistake and how it had to be something she knew next to nothing about. She hated how she couldn't help him, how her parents couldn't help him since they were too invested in their dumb portal, how his friends were clueless about it, she hated everything about it.

And she especially hated how it made the one place Danny was supposed to be safe in- their home- just as horrible as the school where he was hated.

Across the hall there was a large crash, and Jazz jumped. For a second, there was nothing. And then her little brother screamed.

Without really thinking, Jazz jumped out of her bed and bolted across her room. Ignoring the objects that went flying off her bed, Jazz yanked open her door. "Danny?!" She shouted as she sprinted to his closed bedroom door. "Danny, are you okay?!" She called, receiving no answer. After a moment she tried the door only to find it locked. That or it was being held in place. "For the love of God Danny, what did we agree about locking your door?!" Jazz was frantic, her baby brother could have hit his head again, and he could be dying. She threw herself against the wood, trying to turn the knob once again, and the door swung open.

Danny was plastered against his wall, eyes wide and obviously terrified. Jazz took a step towards him, bits of something digging into her feet. She glanced at the ground, only to see assorted pieces of one of Danny's model rockets. Jazz bit her lip, looking back up at her brother. He wasn't even looking at her anymore; he was looking off to the left at thin air.

"Get away from her!" Danny suddenly screamed, rushing over and grabbing Jazz's arm. "Don't touch my sister! Get away from her!" A pause. "I'm not telling you her name! How stupid do you think I am?!"

"Danny," Jazz said gently. "Danny what's wrong?"

Her brother took a step back, pulling Jazz back with him. "I said get away! I'm warning you! I'll... I'll... I'll steal your hands again!"

Jazz turned to face her brother; she placed her hands on his shoulders, worry starting to show in her voice, "Danny, what's happening? Who are you talking too?"

Danny looked confused, motioning to the air in front of them. "Him! That... That creepy- oh my god he's floating. Jazz, why is he floating? That's not normal. Stop doing that!"

Jazz looked to where Danny had motioned too. "Danny..." She said cautiously, "Danny, there's nothing there."

"What are you talking about?! Of course there is!" He snapped, and panic began to cover his voice. "He's... He's right there. He's right- get away from me! Us! I'm warning you!"

"Danny. Danny there's nothing there. Calm down!" Jazz took the opposite of her own advice, not knowing what else to do or say. "Danny please, calm down. There's nothing there."

"Calm down?! No!" Danny almost sounded like he was pleading now. "He's right there! He's been stalking me for like the past week! He's right there! He's... He's laughing at me. Cut it out!"

Franticly, Jazz looked around. Was she missing something? Or was her little brother just crazy? "Danny, Danny look at me. This isn't real. It's not real, Danny!"

"But he's right there! Stop laughing at me, or... Or else!"

Jazz had no idea what she was supposed to do, but obviously she wasn't helping. So she decided on a different tactic. Turning slightly, Jazz faced where she guessed Danny's... Hallucination was. "You!" She yelled at nothing. "Whatever you are. Leave my little brother alone, or I will... Set my parents on you!"

There was a moment of silence, before Danny looked up at her. "I'm crazy, aren't I? Knew it. I knew it. I-" He quickly turned back to where Jazz assumed the hallucination was. "That _does not _give you right to stare at her like that little- oh god ew. Ew, ew, ew, you did not just say that! That is my sister! You don't get to wonder what she looks like without _clothes _on!"

Jazz opened her mouth to speak but immediately shut it; she _did not_ want to know. Ignoring the last comment, she spoke again. "Danny. Danny, look at me please."

Danny did, though only for a second before he gave the hallucination a death glare.

Jazz boiled over. She didn't care whether this thing harassing her brother was real or not, it was hurting him. And honestly, it was scaring her. "Whatever you are!" She screamed, fully losing her temper. "I don't care if you are real or not! I don't care if you are some demon or not, leave my brother alone or I swear to god I will make you leave myself!"

There was a pause, and then Danny crossed his arms. "No, you're _obviously _wanted. What would ever give you the feeling that you're not? We would be _horrified_ if you left me alone." Another pause, but when Danny spoke again his sass was replaced with fear. "Wait, you're not... No! I didn't mean like that! Don't, please! No!"

Jazz didn't know what was going on, or how to react. One minute Danny was standing, yelling at nothing, and the next he was screaming before falling to the floor and began having a seizure. At his rate, their parents had already begun looking into options for surgery. Again without thinking, jazz ran to her brother's side, she took out her phone and began timing the seizure; it was something a doctor had mentioned to her parents.

Jazz wasn't sure what had happened. She wasn't sure what her brother had seen, or how that had led to him having a seizure... But it scared her. Danny didn't deserve this. Her little brother deserved anything but this.

She looked around, attempting to calm herself down. Her brother had been hallucinating. She didn't want to believe that he'd been that injured, that broken. She searched the room for something- _anything,_ any hint that her brother had actually seen something- but found nothing. There was no figure, no whispered phrases; it was just her and Danny.

And somehow, them being alone was even more terrifying than it would be if they weren't.

.-.-.-.-.-.

By Friday Danny was back at school, and the first thing Tucker did once he had the chance was ask if Danny would be willing to hang out at his house after school. Danny had readily agreed, and now both boys sat on Tucker's bed sharing a bag of Cheetos between them. An awkward silence had settled over the room.

"So..." Tucker said.

"So..." Danny mimicked, rubbing the back of his neck. "How are you?"

Tucker let out a stale laugh, "I'm doing pretty well, how about you?"

"Well," Danny's hand had settled in place, "I'm not dead. I get some points for that, right?"

Again, Tucker laughed with no joy in his voice. "Yeah..." Once again a suffocating silence coated the room. After a few moments, Tucker picked up his TV remote and began to flip through channels. "Anything you want to watch?"

A thunderstorm appeared briefly on one of the channels and Danny suddenly became very interested in his arm hairs. "No, I don't... Nothing comes to mind."

Tucker sighed and put on the first TV show he found, _Supernatural_.

Danny looked up at the TV for a second before looking away, frowning. "Isn't this the show you like where everyone dies a bunch?"

"Not really... Okay, kind of." He paused, "But _Doctor Who_ is worse!"

"...Oh, so is this the one with the gay angel that you like?" Danny asked instead, actually looking up at the screen for more than a few seconds. "What was he called... Destiel? Something like that?"

"Castiel!" Tucker snapped, "Destiel is the ship name between him and Dean! It's practically canon okay?!"

"...Nope. Not asking." Danny rolled his eyes, a small smile appearing on his face for a moment. "So what's going on with these psychos this episode?"

"It's a rerun. Season one, episode six I think... Wait no, episode five. The Bloody Mary one." Tucker smiled to himself, being able to recall the exact episode was something that he prided himself in.

"You know, I kind of want to ask how you know that, but on the other hand I really-" Danny trailed off as he shivered, and Tucker almost swore he could see Danny's breath. "Oh no. Not again." He looked around, confused for a second before giving Tucker an embarrassed glance. "Sorry, what was I saying?"

Tucker looked at Danny for a moment, silently taking a catalogue of his best friend. Danny had bright purple bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in a week, he was shivering and shaking. "Danny..." Tucker said at last, his voice honest and full of concern, "Are you on something?"

"Pain meds. _Lots_ of pain meds. And the AEDs, since Jazz insisted I take them. Not like they actually help but whatever..." He'd started mumbling for the last bit, and gave Tucker a confused look. "Why...?"

It took Tucker a moment to answer, as he searched his memory for what AED stood for, at last he gave up and turned his attention back to his friend. "'Cause dude, you look like an addict going through a nasty withdrawal. You okay?"

Danny looked as if Tucker had just accused him of being dead. "No Tucker, I'm _obviously _on drugs." He rolled his eyes, glaring at Tucker's desk chair. "Do I even want to know how you'd know what that looks like? Seriously man, that was weird."

"Hey, I have a Tumblr account, you find out the weirdest shit on that website," Tucker said with a smirk, ignoring Danny's annoyance with his choice of language. "But really Danny, whatever is going on, you can tell me. You know that right?"

"...Yeah, I know." Danny shrugged, not sounding the least bit convincing.

"Upi jizsmd str erotf."

Danny looked almost fearful for a second as Tucker looked around for the source of the gibberish. He dismissed it as his imagination just as Danny spoke. "Hey, Tuck? Could you go downstairs and get me my backpack? I have my phone in it, and I just remembered that I really need to text Jazz about something. She's been checking up on me like crazy."

"Uh, sure?" Tucker said. He sounded very confused, a little scared even. "Where did you toss it again?"

"Uh, closet. By your shoes." Danny's tone had started to sound almost urgent, and he kept glancing towards the chair. "Maybe by the door...? Somewhere in that area. Just find it, please?"

"Okay?" With that Tucker left the room to find Danny's bag. He looked everywhere, the closet, by his shoes; Tucker even looked in the bathroom. Nothing. He must have been searching for about ten minutes before he realized that Danny's backpack was nowhere in sight.

Tucker had just begun to walk back to his bedroom, his own phone ready for Danny to use, when he heard it. There were faint voices. One belonged to Danny; the other was the same voice saying the same gibberish he had heard all week. He walked up to the door and listened through the thin wood.

"This isn't real. You aren't real! Jazz said you weren't so you aren't!"

"Esoy, ejsy'd s Ksxx?"

"Jazz is my sis- you know, I'm not talking to you. You're just a side effect of stupid medication that isn't working right."

"Yjsy esd s kplr. Ofopy." A pause, "Jtu, jtu appl sy zr! Dypq ohmptomh zr! O'aa djpvl upi!"

"No, wait, don't!" Danny sounded terrified. "No, crap. Crap crap frick oh crap..."

Tucker was shocked for a moment, not only was Danny almost swearing, but whatever he was talking to, Tucker could hear. Without even thinking he shoved opened the door. "What the hell just happened?!"

Danny was standing up, and the remaining colour drained from his face. "Tucker? Oh uh, uh... Please don't freak out. It'll be over in a couple minutes, I promise." He sat down on the bed, biting his lip and looking as if he was trying not to panic.

Tucker stood frozen in his doorway. For once, his voice lacked it usual playful tone, it was coated in pure fear and worry. "Danny... What are you talking about?"

Danny sat down on Tucker's bed, "Please don't freak- _AH!_" With the final shout of pain, he fell back. He started to jerk and shake, and a sense of deja vu washed over Tucker as he realized that Danny had done the same thing after the portal accident.

One word slipped from Tucker's mouth and his phone fell from his hand, sliding across the hallway. "Fuck."

It took him a moment to react. Unlike Sam, he had a tendency to freeze during traumatic events. When his mind finally caught up with what was happening, he began to freak out. "Mom!" Tucker called as loud as he could before swearing again, she was out on a date night with his dad. Quickly, Tucker looked around for his phone to maybe call 911 on, any phone, he found none. At last Tucker turned to his last possible ideas. "Tumblr friends don't fail me now!" The boy shouted as he ran to his computer, which luckily had Skype open. Without thinking he hit the 'Call' button for the first person he saw online.

It rang for a couple seconds before the friend picked up. "Hello...? Why are you calling me...?"

The screen was black, obviously this girl was hiding. He couldn't blame her, but he didn't want to hide himself. "Uh, hi. Salty, right? Salty-ghosts?" He asked, trying to sound less scared.

"If you include the dash thing, then yes...? Are you Tuck? Fryertucktech?" He nodded, and her voice trembled. "W-why did you call me...? I mean, I know we have each other's Skype, but why...?" She didn't wait for an answer before asking her next question. "Uh, what's that behind you?"

Tucker turned back to see Danny convulsing on the floor. "That's my best friend. And see I called because I have absolutely no idea what is going on and you know all the medical shit for your writing. Also you were the first person I saw... Help, please."

"...Yeah, but I'm not a doctor, and he looks like he might benefit from one." She hesitated, "Is he Epileptic or something...? Shit. That was a dumb question, wasn't it?"

"I have no idea!" Tucker yelled, as panic began to set in.

"...Wonderful. Then, uh, check. He'd have like a bracelet or an anklet or something identifying him as Epileptic." There was the sound of keys clicking, "And if he really wanted to be discreet about it, he might have it tattooed or have a card saying it or something. Shit, my wording sucks today. I mean like an ID card, but for Epilepsy. Those things."

"Okay... Thanks." Tucker told her, trying to get his fear under control and failing. He walked over to Danny and did a quick check of both of his wrists, nothing. Tucker moved to Danny's ankles, which lead one word to slip from his mouth. "Fuck." He hurried back to the computer, playing with his glasses. "He's Epileptic, and he didn't tell me! Why wouldn't he tell me?! I'm his best friend!"

"...Okay, maybe he just found out or something. It's no big deal." She paused, "Are you timing the seizure? That's all you can do for now."

"...What."

"You aren't. Of course you aren't." She was starting to sound annoyed, "You time the seizure. If it's longer than five minutes, shit's going down and he'll need a visit to the hospital. Or if it's his first one, but since he has the ankle thingy I'm saying that it's not his first."

"...I don't... What... Fuck." Tucker said as he looked at his watch. "I called you about two minutes ago. Just after this started. That probably makes it about two and a half minutes to three."

"Oh, it's probably a bad one." Now she just sounded sympathetic. "Hang in there, Tucker. That's all you can do. Wait it out, he'll be fine."

"...Fuck. Why wouldn't he tell me? Fuck." Tucker was honestly shocked that he didn't know of Danny's condition, when they were kids they had told each other everything. Why did that have to change now? "Do you know how Epilepsy can be caused?"

"Uh, it can be genetic. But if the brain experiences a traumatic event- injury, fuck words- or something it could be caused by that too. Seizures have something to do with electrical impulses and shit, I know that. But yeah, brain damage, maybe from a car accident or not breathing for a prolonged period of time or something."

"No... He..." One thought came to Tucker's mind; the portal accident. "Oh god. Anyways," Tucker tried to change the subject. "What do I do if this last for more than five minutes? It's been like four... Oh god, Danny..."

"Call an ambulance. And probably his parents, too. Actually, you might want to do that anyways." She paused, "Also he's going to be really out of it for a bit after the seizure, for the record. So don't panic if he's really confused. That's normal. ...Shit, my research is out of date. I'll do more in a bit and send it to you, okay?"

"Okay, I... I guess I'll call you back then." Tucker said, ending the call.

It was a few more seconds before Danny stopped shaking, and his breathing went back to almost normal.

"Dude?" Tucker asked, not sure what else to do and he knelt next to his friend. "Danny?"

"Hmm?" Danny muttered, looking past Tucker at the wall behind him. One of his cheeks was now damp with what Tucker guessed was spit, and it was on his bed as well. _Ew._

"Hi, Danny." He hesitantly reached out a hand, resting it on Danny's arm. "How are you?"

"Hm..." Danny offered no valid reply other than that, rolling over and looking like he was about to fall asleep.

It was nearly twenty minutes before Danny offered a reply other than that. "Tucker...? I-" He attempted to sit up, and his eyes went wide. He seemed to be staring at something on the end of Tucker's bed, which Tucker himself couldn't see.

"Danny," Tucker stood, looking at his best friend. "I thought... I thought we said we'd share everything. I know, it was a stupid little kid promise, but... Why wouldn't you tell me you were Epileptic?"

Danny bit his lip, still staring at the end of the bed. His face quickly became covered in a dark red blush. "...Sorry. Can I... Can I go home?"

Tucker rubbed his eyes, trying desperately to see what his friend was seeing. "I..." _There's something there. Fuck, what is that?!_ "...Okay. Want me to call your Mom?"

Danny nodded, and whatever was at the end of the bed disappeared.

_...Okay. Yeah, I'm sleeping in a circle of salt tonight._

.-.-.-.-.-.

_I hate Mondays. I hate school. I hate how my head feels like I was hit by a train. And most importantly, I hate how my hallucination spooked me during science and made me throw a darn beaker at him. That thing almost made me hit Sam, and I got detention because of him. Frickin' fake idiot._

Danny attempted to enter his house quietly, dropping his backpack off by the door before sneaking up to his room. Where he was promptly greeted by the sense as his breath came out in a chilled fog.

_...Of course. Of course this gets to happen to me today; what next, my daily seizure?_

Danny hesitated, his fingers brushing against the door knob. _Please let me have good luck._

He didn't.

"Boo!" His hallucination shouted, and Danny fell back. The boy doubled over laughing, and Danny saw a pair of cat ears on a headband fall off his head.

_...You've got to be kidding me._

"You should've seen your face!" He laughed, and Danny threw the headband back at him.

"You shut up!" He snapped, being sure to keep his voice low so nobody would hear him. "Take those things and shove them up your- what is that on your wrist?"

The boy looked down at his right hand, pulling at the sleeve. "Nothing. It's... There's nothing."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Okay then." He stepped into his room, closing the door behind him. _Deep breaths, Fenton. Don't question it. He's not real, you're okay, you're okay._

"Owie!" The boy hissed, and Danny took a few quick steps back. The hallucination flickered, and Danny barely registered that his hand seemed to be stuck between the door and the wall. The boy's body turned a weird translucent blue, and he pulled his hand back as if the door hadn't even been there.

"Okay," Danny muttered, increasing the distance between the two. "That was weird."

"Well no shit!" _Oh crud, I made him mad. I'm screwed. I'm very screwed. _"Your dumb door crushed my hand!" He shook the hand before cradling it in the other. "Owie..."

"...Okay then." Danny muttered, moving to sit down in his desk chair. "I'm... I'm not asking. Nope, not-" His left hand had started to throb, and it only took Danny a second to realize that his hallucination was cradling his own left hand. "...What. What did you... What did you do to my hand?!" _Deep breaths, Fenton, there's a logical explanation for this. There is one. Somewhere. And it's probably that you're crazy._

_Wow, I've got to stop referring to myself in third person._

A knock on his door distracted the both of them, and the boy quickly scrambled out of the way as Jazz's voice rang out. "Danny? Is that you?"

"Uh, yeah!" Danny called back, "It's just me!"

"Are you sure?" She replied, "You sounded like you were talking to someone."

"Uh..." Danny bit his lip. He really didn't feel like telling his sister that his hallucination was back. However, claiming the thing wasn't real almost never ended well for him. Quickly, Danny turned towards his computer and started it up. "Yeah, I was!"

"And who is this mystical person...?"

_Come on, come on..._ "Uh, it was just..." _Come on, come on! There we go!_ The electronic started up, and Danny quickly opened up his Skype. A few clicks later he was calling his best friend. "Tucker!"

"I've been summoned?" Tucker asked sarcastically as he answered the Skype call.

"Tucker, hi!" Danny smiled awkwardly, and then a thought hit him. "Oh. Oh crud, I was supposed to go to your house to work on the science thing, wasn't I? Oh god Tucker, I'm so sorry, I forgot."

"Yeah. It's okay. Sam and I finished it up. I figured you'd miss anyways," Something in Tucker's voice gave away his sadness. _I'm sorry, Tuck._

"Yeah," Both of Danny's hands made their way to the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry. There's just a lot going on right now and I... I don't know anymore." _I'm not telling him that I might be crazy. I'm not bothering him with that. He has his own problems._

Tucker sighed loudly on the other end. "Danny, please talk to me. Please. I know you're going through a lot but dude, I've been through a lot too. Let me be there for you like you were with me..."

"Tucker..." _I want to tell him. But I can't. Who'd stick around the crazy kid?_ "Tucker, I'm sorry, I want to tell you, I really do. I just... I don't know, I-" He moved his hands to the table, knocking a jar of pencils off of the edge. "Oh, great. Hold on." He bent down to shove them back in the jar, and from the corner of his eye noticed his hallucination flop onto his bed.

"Danny I know-" Tucker began, but stopped mid-sentence. "Hey. I can call back later. I didn't know you had company." The boy stopped talking for a moment. "Danny, are you coming out to me?"

Danny's face twisted into an expression of horror and he shot back up to look at his friend. "_What?! _Dude, no! I'm not gay!" _Why would he think that?!_

Tucker's face was suddenly bright and happy. "I've always wanted to go to a pride parade! I have my rainbows somewhere! Give me a minute," Tucker said before beginning to dig through the drawers of his desk.

"Wha- wait no. No, Tucker no! I'm not gay!" Danny was nearly screaming now, and he could hear faint laughter coming from outside his room. "Shut up, Jazz!"

Tucker sat up straight in his chair once again with a hand full of rainbow junk. "I have flags and a belt that are all rainbow!" After a moment of silence Tucker started to laugh. "Dude your face is so red! God you didn't actually mean to come out did you?" Tucker couldn't stop the laughing fit even as he tried to speak through it. "Well your boyfriend showing up when you're calling me, that's one way the be dragged out of the closet!"

"I don't have a boyfriend!" Danny shouted, putting his head in his hands. "God, I barely even have any friends! I'm not gay! I like girls, for the love of god!"

"Then how do you explain the albino guy laying on your bed?!"

"The _what?!_" Danny screamed, and then what Tucker had said registered with him. "The... The what? Tucker, the what on my...?!"

"That boy with white hair lounging on your bed like Rose from the Titanic. Except wearing clothes." Tucker said, still laughing. "And Danny, you can't even draw!"

Slowly, Danny turned back towards his bed. His... Well, what he'd spent the last week thinking was his hallucination lounged there, fiddling with a pencil. He noticed Danny looking at him, made a face, and rolled the other way. "Oh... Oh my god. Oh my god." _I'm not crazy. Either that or Tucker's crazy with me._

"Dude?" Tucker asked, suddenly picking up on the shock in his friend's voice. "Danny. What is it?"

Danny turned back, a mixture of fear a relief twisted onto his face. He kept his voice quiet as he spoke. "You can see him?"

Tucker stopped for a moment, looking at Danny in confusion. "Yeah, Danny. I can. He is sitting right there. …Why…?"

"Because Jazz can't. She said... She said he was just a hallucination, an Epilepsy thing, that he was all in my mind. I thought she was right." Danny ran a hand through his hair, "I'm not crazy? I'm not... Oh my god, you... I'm not crazy! Oh, thank god!"

It took Tucker a moment to processes what Danny had just told him. "Danny. Did you just tell me that I can see your hallucination? And that Jazz can't?"

"Yeah," Danny was smiling now, nodding frantically. "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy! Oh my god... Wait." It took a second, but the reality of his situation registered with Danny. "If... If you can see him... Then he's not a... Oh my god, he's not..."

"Danny," Tucker said in an eerily calm voice. "You're fucking crazy. And I'm just as fucking crazy."

"Tucker," _Don't freak out, don't freak out... Crap I'm freaking out..._ "But we both... Oh my god, if he's real, than those... Oh my god, this can't be happening. This isn't real. This can't be real!"

Tucker turned around, he was facing his door although Danny couldn't tell what was there. "Shit," Tucker said as he turned back to Danny. "This would be a really bad time to tell you that Sam is over and just got back from the bathroom right?"

"She's what?!" Danny's voice had reached a high note of pure unfiltered panic. "Oh god. Oh no. No, no, no, no..."

Sam sat down next to Tucker. "'No' what?" She asked, but gave no time for either to answer. "Oh!" She said cheerfully. "I've always wanted a gay friend!"

"For the love of god I'm not gay!" Danny shouted, standing up. "Tucker, shut down your computer. Pretend you didn't see him! Please!"

"See who?" Sam asked. "The albino kid with his back to us? That's pretty rare you know."

"For the love of god he's not an albino!" Danny snapped, quickly looking back at the boy. When he spoke again, he made sure it wasn't loud enough for anyone outside the room to hear. "I don't think he's human! Pretend you didn't see him before he can hurt you too! Please! Don't put yourselves in danger for me! Please! Get out while you still can... _Please._"

There was an awkward silence for what felt like forever. "Danny," it was Tucker who spoke, "If that thing is hurting you, whatever it is, I'm not walking away." Sam nodded in agreement.

"No, you don't understand! You ignore, make him unhappy, and he electrocutes you! He stole my arm last week, too! And he pushed me into a sink and gave me a concussion and-" _Oh god, oh god, this can't be happening._ "He gives me freaking seizures, Tucker! Don't let him-"

"Stop talking about me." The boy spoke up, and Danny jumped.

"Crud. Crud, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." He sat back down in the chair, mouthing the word 'Please.' "Sam? Don't get yourself involved. You don't know me. Pretend this didn't happen and hold Tucker back. Please. _Please._"

"I will not be held back!" Tucker screamed. "For the love of christ Danny tell your parents! Something! And I'm not going to let that gibberish speaking freak hurt you!"

"...The _what?_"

"Seriously," The boy spoke up again, "Stop talking about me. And tell the other humans to learn the language, their gibberish annoys me."

"Um..." _Oh god. _"He's... He's not speaking gibberish." _Oh god. _"And my parents... They... They don't see him either. I'd know if they did. They're safe. You're not. Don't risk your lives for me. Please don't."

Sam looked as if she was about to jump through the screen and murder her friend. "Daniel Fenton I swear to god that I will stab you if you say that one more time. I am a woman but that doesn't mean that I need protecting! I can take care of myself, thank you!"

"Your gender doesn't have anything to do with this!" Danny screamed, "For the love of god, I said the same thing to Tucker and he's a dude! Save yourselves!"

"Okay," The boy sat up, "Now you're slipping into it too? What's a gender?"

"Oh shut up, you useless idiot!" Danny snapped, turning back slightly to face his stalker, and the boy stood.

"What was that?"

_Uh-oh. Crap. _"Nothing! It's... I'm sorry! Don't- please!"

The boy paused for a second, glaring at the computer. Danny could almost swear his green eyes seemed to glow a bit brighter. "Pitiful. Human, you are a coward. Be thankful my hand still hurts, otherwise I'd shock you. And I'd rain hell down on those friends of yours. Now, stop talking about me." He sat back down.

San had enough. "Hey, albino freak! Stop speaking gibberish! And Danny, stop replying!"

"Tell blacky there to shut up, would you? Her voice annoys me." Danny shook his head, glancing back at his friend. "Do it! Unless you want me to pull the leash again? No? That's what I thought."

Danny swallowed, looking back at Sam. "S-Sam? He... I'm really sorry… He says, uh... That he wants me to tell you to shut up. And that your voice is annoying. I'm sorry please don't hate me!"

"Aw," The boy groaned, "Where was the emotion? And here I thought you actually had some acting skills."

"I'm gonna kill it!" Sam screamed, jumping to her feet.

"Danny," Tucker said much more calmly. "Calm down." He turned to Sam. "Girl, calm your feminist shit, we need to figure out what we're going to do. What would Sam and Dean do? Even if they're fictional and left their brother in the cage, they've got to know something about this!"

Sam ignored his comment about her ideology. "Salt! Danny, go sit in a circle of salt!"

"Um, I really don't see how that's going to help." Danny muttered, licking his lips. "And if I try that I'm pretty sure my mom will kill me."

"Demonic shit can't pass through salt Danny," Tucker tried to explain, ignoring the comment about Danny's mom being angry. One thing would be scarier than some evil thing stalking his best friend; an angry mother.

"...Demonic?" Danny whispered, "Wait, no, that stuff isn't real. It can't be real. It... Frick my parents were right. Um... I'm just... I'll go do that then." _If they were right, then why can't they see him?_

"We'll be there soon," Sam said before adding, "As soon as we stop by a church and get some holy water."

"And maybe a priest!" Tucker chimed in.

"I feel like you guys are plotting my death." The... _Thing_ spoke up. "You aren't plotting my death, are you?"

"Uh, no!" Danny lied, noticing his friends exit off of the call from the corner of his eye.

"...Good." He nodded, flopping back onto the bed. "I don't like the girl. She sounds like an idiot."

"She is my friend," Danny replied, moving to his feet. He noticed the chance he had, and swallowing his fear, he took it. "And I will not stand here and let you insult her!" He stormed out of the room, running downstairs and grabbing a salt shaker.

_He's going to kill me for this. And if he doesn't, Mom will._

_I always knew I'd die on a Monday._

* * *

Danny stop being so dramatic, it's not healthy. And Clockwork… Yeah I'm not even touching him. There's a little too much jackassery in his corner.

I regret nothing.

All kinds of love for this story is greatly appreciated! However, if any reviews turn into flames the person who sent said will have to deal with the only thing more terrifying than a random demon; an angry mother.

/Loud screams of horror occur in the distance/ Oh no, she's loose!


	3. Whistle

Welcome to chapter three, in which Danny shows his dick to Prince!

Aka, Danny's a bit of a jerk and I'm a little shit. Oh well, Prince deserves it.

Special thanks to Kasena for beta reading, because I skip words and Lovewritingstories is at war with grammar. It's great.

**Chapter warning;** Angst. Oh, and swearing.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 3;**

"Uh... Actually, they did do all that. You did it with them, remember? I did too. We all did. Like twice."

"Oh, shut up! I will change the past! I can and I will!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Clockwork didn't know what he had done to make the Universe hate him. Obviously, it had to have been something, because things did not go this wrong, this quickly, naturally. He had to have angered some higher power- or possibly just the Observants. Who were currently a little ways away, yelling at him.

After all, it's not like there was _anything_ important they could be doing.

"Are you even listening to us?! No wonder you make so many mistakes, you can't get instructions through your thick skull!" One of the green blobs shouted.

"I don't," Clockwork replied, digging his nails into the fabric of his gloves. "I don't make 'so many' mistakes. I made one."

"Oh really?" Asked another. "The Time War, your brother, your nephew, the customs, _that _Timeline, shall I continue?"

Clockwork didn't reply. How could he? They weren't wrong.

"You messed up, and now Prince Phantom is no longer in existence. This is your fault!" Chimed in the third and, thankfully, final one.

Again, Clockwork didn't reply. At least they were blaming him. Nobody else deserved to suffer for his shortcomings. Besides, after two weeks of hearing nothing from them, it was almost a relief to have what was going to happen eventually _actually_ happen.

"We should have never trusted a mistake like you with this job. All you do is screw up, and act like you didn't," One of them spoke, though Clockwork couldn't be sure which one. They all sounded the same, when one didn't care enough to pay attention.

"I overlooked one thing. I didn't mean..." He trailed off, trying to find the words. "I never wanted this to happen. I never wanted to hurt him, much less..."

Something that sounded like a snort came from the three Observants. It was as if they were enjoying his pain. "We do not care what you meant to do, and whether you meant to hurt him, the fact is, he is gone because of you. That is your fault, and you will be punished for your neglect."

"I wasn't even there!" The protest slipped out before Clockwork could stop it. _Damn it. I said the wrong thing. This is all going to backfire, and fall apart, just like before..._

"Then who is to blame?! Your Time Apprentices? Your... pet?!"

_Pet? I don't even like animals! _"I..." He was very tempted to reveal that Stopwatch had been an indirect cause. But Clockwork wasn't stupid; he knew how that would end. It would be better to take the blame for himself. After all, he was the Master of Time. He shouldn't have missed the fact that Prince was out. In the end, it was all his fault. "...I never meant to hurt him. I never meant to hurt anyone."

"That is irrelevant."

"I'm aware."

"This is your last warning, Time Master. Make no more mistakes, or we will be forced to act. Remember, we gave you this little family, we can just as easily take it away."

His nails were nearly piercing the fabric of his gloves now. "Don't... Don't touch her. Them. Leave them out of this. I won't... I won't mess up again. Just don't hurt- touch, whatever. Just leave them out of this. Don't punish them for my mistakes." _Please._

"Then do as you are told, Clockwork. Another event such as this will-" The sound of footsteps cut them off, and Clockwork froze as the door squeaked open. _Not her. Anyone but her._

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" Said a cold voice from behind the Observants.

_Shit. _"Tardis..." Clockwork trailed off, glancing at the Observants. "This doesn't concern you."

Of course, she ignored him. "Well? What are you doing here?"

"Is it drugs?" The voice of that damned Infinite Hour piped up, and looked over at Clockwork from somewhere behind Tardis. "It looks like drugs. You don't get deformed like that without them."

The Observants turned to them, Clockwork swore he heard one growl. "Leaving," They said equally as coldly, quite possibly glaring at the time apprentice. "And Tardis, I suggest you stay out of business that is not your own. We wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Oh? I would get hurt?" An impish smirk appeared on her face. "Well, I'd like to see somebody try."

"Well, that was disturbing." Infinite muttered, making a face at the Observants. _Does he have no sense of self-preservation?! _ "I'd leave her alone if I were you. Otherwise, you'll probably end up extra-dead, and served with fries. I know this from experience."

Clockwork barely resisted the urge to slap him.

"Clockwork, last warning." With that, the Observants thankfully left.

"...Tardis," Clockwork could feel his nails through the gloves, "Why would you interrupt my meeting? I had everything under control."

"Stop that," She ordered, completely ignoring what he had said.

That wasn't the reply he'd expected, and for a moment, Clockwork assumed she'd been talking to Infinite. "Stop what?"

"You know what I mean. Your hands," She sounded obviously aggravated. "Stop it."

_Oh._ Clockwork flattened out his hands, letting them rest against his sides. "Is that better?" The phrase came across harsher than he'd intended.

"Much." Was the curt reply.

Clockwork frowned. There was something... off about the tone in which she spoke. It was too happy, and too closed off. "...Tardis? What are you not telling me?"

Infinite's jaw dropped, "Holy fucking fudge nuggets, he figured it out! ...Wow, that wasn't censored at all. Tardis, you've corrupted me."

Tardis glared at Infinite, before turning back to Clockwork. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, sure, you don't." Clockwork was honestly angry now. She was keeping something from him! He knew she hated him, but this was ridiculous! _I'm supposed to know everything. I have to. _"What are you and that ponytailed little shit there keeping from me?"

Infinite appeared very offended by the comment about his hair but, other than an alarmed gasp and reaching up to touch it, offered no reply.

Tardis completely dismissed his insult of the ghost behind her. "What would ever make you think I'm hiding something?"

_I've known you for over three thousand years, and you ask how I can tell that? Seriously? _"Hm, I don't know. The way you're acting, the way you're talking..." He paused, waiting for a reaction, which he didn't receive. "Just the little things."

She smiled sweetly at him. "Well, I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are you sure?" Clockwork asked, not-so-subtly digging his nails into the tips of his thumbs. "Because if I'm right- and I know I'm right- you know something you think I don't. What is it?"

Infinite seemed oddly amused by that comment. "Oh, we know you don't know. That's the whole point."

"For the love of Father Time, would you stop that?!" Tardis practically screamed, staring at his hands.

_There we go._ Clockwork didn't bend to her demands. "Maybe I would, if you'd tell me what you're hiding."

"And maybe I'd tell you, if you weren't the Observants little dog on a leash!"

Infinite smacked his hand to his forehead. Clockwork, however, stared at her in horror for a moment.

"I... Tardis, don't you dare call me that! Don't you fucking dare!"

"Oh I'll dare. You run around doing their bidding, like a worthless slave!" She spat, ignoring Infinite's frantic signals to stop talking. "You used to stand up to them, but now? You're nothing but their pawn!"

"I am not their slave!" Clockwork was nearly screaming now. "And I am not worthless. You know, if anyone here were to take that title, it would be you. At least I actually do work! What do you even do? Bake soufflés? Cry over Time Twister?!" It occurred to Clockwork after he'd said it that maybe he should avoid the sensitive topics, especially when he didn't particularly enjoy talking about them.

Tardis froze. "I... I..." Her voice gave away the clearly upset tone which Clockwork had assumed would follow. It took her a moment before she spoke again. "Food is in the kitchen, if you want any. I'm not hungry." She fled the room, leaving Infinite behind. A moment later, a door slammed shut.

"Well," Infinite spoke up, taking a step back. "That was... That was terrifying. I'm just... I'm just going to head home now."

Clockwork shook his head, moving to the side and picking up his staff from the wall it leaned against. "...Do you know what she wasn't telling me?"

One of Infinite's hands moved to the back of his neck, and the other to his left side. "...Maybe. Look, we're handling it, okay? We've got this." He shuffled backwards, eyes not leaving Clockwork.

"I don't care," That was a lie. He cared, perhaps a little too much. "Just because you think you know what you're doing, doesn't mean you shouldn't tell me."

"I do know what I'm doing. I've revived the dead _hundreds_ of times."

_...What?_ "No, you haven't. What are you trying to do?" He watched as Infinite let out a short, nervous laugh, reaching back to grab the doorknob. "I repeat, what are you trying to do?"

"Sarcasm mostly. My witty banter kind of went skydiving without a parachute."

"I was being serious. What are you planning?"

Another nervous laugh. "Nothing important, considering that I don't matter or anything. Bye!" He rushed out of the room, and a couple seconds later, several assorted objects in the hall fell over.

Clockwork didn't chase after him; it was pointless. The boy would already be gone. The staff slid from his hands, and Clockwork found himself in his child form as he sunk to the floor. Why did he even bother trying? What was he hoping to gain? It's not like anyone was willingly going to tell him anything, or associate with him. Why would they ever want to be near a failure, much less let him in on their little game. They were keeping this from him, because he didn't deserve to know. This was his punishment. After all, if it wasn't for him, Prince wouldn't have been destroyed. Nobody would have. All this death, destruction... It was all his fault.

Everything was all his fault.

And Infinite, that damned creature, who'd become Tardis' friend just by meeting her. There was no hidden backstory, no secret adventure... They had no past. He just mattered more to Tardis than Clockwork ever had.

The Observants were right. He was nothing. He was worth nothing. He made so many mistakes, and he was so many more. A wave of failure in a pool of fuck ups.

Why would he ever let himself believe he was anything but that?

He'd been replaced, by someone who was so much better than he could ever be. And there was nothing Clockwork could do to change that.

He may have said that Infinite didn't matter, but that wasn't true. Not in Tardis' eyes. To her, the one who didn't matter was Clockwork himself.

Why had he ever expected anything different?

.-.-.-.-.-.

Never in his life had Tucker been so thankful that he owned a moped.

He'd spent not even a minute searching his house for something that would help Danny, before grabbing a salt shaker and running outside. He'd honestly been about to start running to Danny's house, until Sam pointed out that the scooter would probably be faster. And it was, even with both of them riding on it with complete disregard for their safety. Fenton Works was in sight now, and Tucker quickly ditched the scooter, and rushed up to the door. "Danny!" His fist pounded on the door, the knocking becoming more frantic with every second his friend didn't answer. "Danny, open this, for the love of god!"

"Hey, Fenton!" Sam shouted, coming up beside Tucker and kicking the door. "Daniel Fenton, open this damn door!"

"Danny! Open up!" Tucker screamed into the wood, almost in tears with worry. If that _thing_, whatever it was, had hurt Danny...

The door opened before him or Sam could start knocking again, and an alarmed Danny stood on the other side. "Guys! You're going to freak out Jazz! Do you _want _to be lectured?!"

"I thought that you were dead!" Tucker shouted, and then narrowed his eyes. Had... Had Danny been crying?

"...Well," He hesitated, wiping at his eyes. "I'm still alive, Tucker."

Sam stepped forwards, practically inviting herself in. "Shouldn't you be surrounded by salt?"

"A-actually," Danny's smile was obviously forced, "What you guys saw was a hologram thing my dad built. I was acting- the demon thing isn't real. It was... a thing. Yeah. I- yeah."

Both Tucker and Sam were silent for a moment. "Bull shit." Tucker called. "How stupid do you think I- we, are?"

"I- I never said you guys were stupid!" Both of Danny's hands had moved to the back of his neck, but he still had that stupid smile. "I just said that my dad built a thing, and it worked so he made me try it out- that's it! Anything else was a coincidence!"

"Coincidences don't happen," Sam replied, pushing past Danny. "Especially not like this. You coming, Tucker? We have a demon to destroy."

"Yes, we do. Danny, move."

"Wait, what? But there's-" Danny took a step back, and Tucker entered his house. "Guys, no, really- there's nothing there. Just me. And my dad, Jazz, my mom... Definitely nothing not human. Why would there be anything non-human?"

"Because, it's stalking you." Sam deadpanned, "And, wow. I thought you couldn't lie when you told Lancer that your breakfast ate your homework."

"That actually happened, though!" Danny's fake 'everything's okay' act was quickly fading, and Tucker could plainly hear the panic in his friend's voice. "They attempt to devour something every time someone opens that drawer, and my mom keeps trying to make more! It's not my fault she wants a sausage army!"

Tucker snickered, and Sam smacked the back of his head. "No, it's your Dad's. Come on." She grabbed onto his wrist, dragging him up the stairs behind her.

Danny's face quickly twisted from fear to disgust. "Did you just make a sex joke about my parents?!"

"Yes," Sam said plainly, and Danny rushed forward to grab onto Tucker's other wrist as the fear apparently came back.

"Guys, seriously," He attempted to pull Tucker down the stairs, and failed in doing so. "It's okay. I'm okay. There's nothing there, why would there be anything there, it's not like that thing is right there, because he's totally not, why would-"

"Ejsy snpiy zr?"

Tucker turned, looking at the top of the stairs as Sam did the same. Standing- no, floating- was the thing from Danny's room. He had an apple in hand, which he then raised to take a bite out of.

"Holy shit," Sam whispered, and Tucker swallowed his rising fear. _For Danny, this for Danny._

"...Uh, we don't have any apples." Danny spoke quietly, his voice shaking. "Where'd you get one?"

The demon thing shrugged, "Fprdm'y zsyyrt. Upi ertr ysalomh snpiy zr. Eju?"

Tucker reached into his pocket, pulling out the salt shaker. "Hey, you." He moved up the stairs, standing just in front of Sam. "This is for Danny." He threw the salt shaker at the thing, hitting him in the face. Hard.

The thing fell to the ground as a result, letting out a loud and surprised sound. What looked like a green rash had started to form on his face and hands. Quickly, he scrambled away from where the salt shaker had fallen, and cradled the apple close to him.

"Pj djoy."

"Get him!" Sam shouted, rushing forwards and kicking him in the side. The demon let out a shout of pain, which was echoed by a quieter one from Danny. "This is for Danny, you scum!"

"And this is for everything else!" Tucker rushed forward, adrenaline drowning out all emotions except for anger. He stomped down on the thing's right wrist, watching as he quickly rolled into a ball. "That won't save you!"

"Guys," Danny spoke up, cradling his right wrist. "Guys, whatever you're doing, stop- you're hurting me!"

Tucker hesitated, Sam following suit. "But," She was very obviously confused. "We haven't touched you."

"Well, I feel like I've been hit by a truck, so obviously you're doing something!" Danny's fear was as present as ever, though after a second he seemed to focus in on his demon. "It's going away now, kind of."

Tucker looked down at the human-like creature, wondering what he should do next. _How likely is it that Danny's parents would believe us, if we said that we captured them a supernatural thing that they can't see? They might believe us, or they might flip shit at us believing in what they apparently think is Danny's delusion-_

His thoughts halted as he felt a hand wrap around his ankle, and from the offended sound Sam made, one had likely wrapped around her's, as well. His ankle was roughly pulled to the side, sending both him and Sam crashing to the floor, winded.

Danny's demon slowly moved to his feet, giving them a cold and calculated look. "O dihhrdy upi tim."

"What'd he say?" Tucker asked, glancing over at Sam.

"_Run!_" Danny shouted, rushing forward and throwing his arms around the thing's body. "Go, get out, I'll be-" A bright flash of light cut him off, and Tucker lifted a hand to shield his eyes. Once he could see Danny again, he found himself frozen on the spot. _No way._

"Danny, you..." Sam trailed off, leaving the words that didn't need to be said hanging in the air.

Danny looked exactly as he had after his portal accident- reverse jumpsuit and white hair in all its terrifying glory. However, the thing he'd wrapped his arms around was nowhere in sight.

"Okay...?" Danny's voice had an eerie echo. "This is weird. How do I fix it?"

"You know what else is weird?" Something in Tucker broke. That voice had come from Danny, but it wasn't Danny's voice. The tone was different, and it sounded odd as well. "The fact that I understood that. Blacky sounds even more annoying in person."

"Her name is Sam! And don't call her annoying!" Real-Danny yelled, looking to his side at something Tucker couldn't see.

"Oh, my bad!" Fake-Danny snapped, quickly looking the other way. "But what do you want me to call her? Slu-"

Sam was on her feet in an instant. "Finish that sentence, and I will slit your throat."

"Please, not when we're like this!" Real-Danny flinched, but when it shifted to Fake-Danny the action was switched with one that reminded Tucker of a younger Danny trying to stand up to bullies.

"Yeah, and why would you slit my throat, when you could burn me, instead? It'll go so much better."

"Don't do that either!"

"Do the thing!"

"Do not do the thing!"

Their words started to mix together, forming things that Tucker couldn't understand. At one point, arms started flailing and the body started floating. And then it somehow fell through the wall.

"Tucker?" Sam reached down, pulling him to his feet. "Did that just happen?"

"God I hope not," He replied, looking down the stairs. "Being crazy would make so much more sense than this." Despite everything, they both made their way downstairs and out the front door, just in time to miss Jazz look out of her room in confusion.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny didn't know what he was doing. He'd found himself focusing on his stalker's mind again, and now he kept hearing bits of thoughts, but that most certainly didn't mean he knew what he was doing. He kept seeing this building, one that almost resembled a castle. No, wait- two buildings like that. Three? Either way, there were castles.

There was a man, too. He was ridiculously tall- and why did he spend so much time making out with this weird blonde lady? And look, there was the little blonde kid again, hitting stuff and making music. And there was some brunette chick, and- a blue guy with no legs, both of which were younger than him.

Danny decided he didn't want to know. He _did not_ want to know.

But despite the situation, they were all pretty much saying the same thing. Danny couldn't quite make it out, not at first, until the blonde lady said it. Even then, it was like a fleeting thought, like he hadn't quite heard it- "_Joseph?"_

Another followed, a sentence this time, and this one sounded more like a name. It solidified in Danny's mind, and there was no doubt that it was someone talking to his stalker. "_Prince Phantom, stop throwing cherry pits at your sister!"_

The light split across his vision, and Danny found himself thrown back onto the ground. Grass poked the back of his neck, and Danny found himself wondering exactly when he'd gotten outside.

"Well, that was a disaster." His stalker- no, Prince- spoke, rising to his feet as Danny quickly did the same. "Why would your friends see me? Nobody can but you! So, what did you do to make them be able to see me?!"

"Nothing!" Danny said, stepping back. "I- I didn't do anything!"

"Well obviously you did something!" Prince snapped, taking a few steps towards Danny. "So, what. Was. It?"

"Get away from me!" Danny shouted, taking a step back. "Prince Phantom, don't you dare move from that spot!"

Prince froze, his body tensing for a second. But he didn't disobey the order, instead stepping back so that he was standing flat. His face was blank, void of any emotion except for the one given away by his trembling bottom lip.

"Um, okay?" Danny frowned, "I- I didn't think that would work."

"Well, _that's _reassuring." He actually did sound relieved though- that and annoyed. "So you learned the thing, huh?"

Danny blinked twice, "Wait, what thing? There was a thing?"

Prince stared at him for a second, before smacking a palm to his face and falling back onto the ground as he shook with wild laughter. "I- I didn't, and you, I thought- I'm not _as _hated!" He fell onto his side, and Danny took a step back. _Nope. Not asking. I am not asking._

It was then that the front door to Fenton Works burst open, Sam and Tucker throwing themselves between the two.

"Are you okay?" Sam whispered, eyeing Prince as he stopped laughing and looked up at her. "Shit, that thing's even uglier up close."

Prince raised an eyebrow, "You aren't exactly a pocket full of sunshine yourself."

"Holy shit!" Tucker screamed, falling back as Sam stumbled into Danny. "Sam! Please tell me you heard that!"

Sam nodded, and Danny attempted to steady her. "Wait, what? Guys, heard what?"

"My voice," Prince said, moving to his feet. "You're not the only one who can invade others' memories, Daniel Fenton. I just happened to know where to go to learn your language before looking at stuff I couldn't possibly understand."

Danny stepped back, watching as the creature in front of him stayed where he was standing. "I- I understood enough! Sam, Tucker, get behind me!"

"Why?!" Sam snapped, and Danny offered no reply as Tucker grabbed her and pulled her back. "Danny, no! Don't do anything stupid!"

"Prince Phantom," He stepped forward, watching as the boy tensed. "Is that your name?"

Almost robotically, the boy replied, "Yes, that is my given name." His body relaxed, and he almost seemed to shrink away from Danny. "I- I- oh no."

"Wait, hold on," Tucker said, "Who names their kid Prince?"

"Uh... My dad." Prince frowned, "Or was it my aunt? I think it was my aunt."

"That demon has a _family?!_" Sam looked horrified, "Oh, please, no, don't tell me there's more of it!"

"Wait, what? Demon?!" With a loud and high-pitched screech, Prince fell and cowered on the ground. "Where?! Don't let it get me!"

For a few seconds, Danny, Sam, and Tucker were silent. "Uh, you." Danny said, watching as Prince raised his head. "You're the demon."

"Wait, what?" Prince made a face, standing back up. "I- what? But that, I- what? Oh crap, I sound like my uncle. Uh, yeah... I'm a ghost, not a demon."

Danny blinked twice, ignoring Sam's gasp and Tucker's confused sputtering. "A what? A... A ghost?!" He stumbled back, bumping into his friends. "Oh my god, my parents were right."

"He's the Moon Moon of ghosts!" Tucker nearly shouted, pointing at Prince and nearly dying of laughter. "His last name is Phantom, and he's a ghost! He is literally Ghost Ghost!"

Rolling her eyes, Sam reached over and smacked Tucker on the back of the head. "Not the time, Tucker. You can be a meme loving fuck later."

"...Hey, Danny," Tucker smirked, looking at the ghost who was moving back to his feet. "Who you gonna call?"

"Tucker, no."

"I'm still here, you know." Prince deadpanned, scratching at his wrist. "Your realm is ugly, for the record. It's very blue. I hate blue. And what am I even standing on?" He moved a foot, looking down at the grass underneath it. "Ew, plants."

"Just when I thought I couldn't hate it more," Sam took a step forward, "Tell me, _Prince Phantom,_ what's wrong with plants?"

Once again, the ghost tensed for a second. "Nothing, I'm just saying the first things that come to mind." He relaxed, forcing an awkward smile. "Uh... Or am I?"

Danny frowned, pulling Sam back. _He did the thing again. That can't be coincidence, can it? _"Prince Phantom, why do you keep going tense whenever anyone says your name?"

The ghost looked terrified as he tensed once again. "I... I..." He seemed to be fighting against it, or at least attempting to. "I have an obsession to serve. If one uses my name I must do what they say." Prince stared down at the ground, not offering any other comments.

There was silence for a few long moments before Danny spoke. "...Really?"

Prince shivered slightly, but other than that offered no reply.

"If we use your name, you have to answer our questions whether you like it or not?" Tucker frowned, "I'd feel sorry for you, but after everything you did to Danny, you don't deserve _anyone's_ pity. Prince Phantom-"

Sam cut him off, "Do the Macarena."

Prince raised his head as he tensed, making a face. "The _what? _What the heck is the-" He stopped as his arm's seemed to start the dance on their own. Danny cracked a smile at the ridiculous scene in front of him, while Tucker almost started laughing and Sam just appeared proud. "I hate you all. _So _much."

"The feeling is mutual," Sam replied, smugly.

Danny watched Prince for a moment, shaking his head. "I can't take you seriously when you're doing that dance. Prince Phantom, uh- I cancel the orders we've placed upon you...?"

"Danny, dude," Tucker spoke up, "You sound like fucking Shakespeare."

Danny ignored the comment as Prince tensed, smiling after a moment. "In that case..." He hesitated for a second longer, before shooting off into the air, much to Danny's horror.

"...That was weird," Sam muttered, watching as Danny reluctantly sat down. "Okay, what are you doing?"

_He's going to shock me. _"Tucker?" Danny fought to keep his fear from his voice, "Could you take Sam inside and find my mom? Or Jazz?" _They can't watch this. They'll freak out and leave me if they watch this._

"He's not taking me anywhere!" Sam shouted, and Tucker grabbed onto her arm. "Tucker, stop! Danny, what are you- Danny?! Tucker, stop pulling me, you asshole! I'm going to kick you!"

The pins and needles feeling covered Danny as his front door slammed, and he let out a scream of pain.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Tucker, question." Danny sighed, turning to his best friend. "How exactly is going shopping at a flea market going to help my ghost problem?"

"Easy! We'll find something that can get rid of him," Tucker replied.

"Yes, because the Ghostbusters are _obviously_ going to have a booth set up to help."

"You never know," Tucker said as he wandered over to a booth. "Hey look! It's a necklace, it's kind of pretty."

"What, do you want me to buy it for you?" Danny deadpanned, catching a familiar head of white hair from the corner of his eye. "That... That won't exactly help those rumors, you know..."

"First, who cares..." Tucker muttered. "Second, I meant for _Sam._"

"W-wait, what?" Danny took a step back, one hand moving to the back of his neck. "I'm not getting her a necklace! That's creepy!"

"Oh, please. We both know you're in love with her, regretfully."

"Am not! ...Wait, regretfully?" Danny made a face, nearly breaking out in laughter as the ghost nearly knocked over a shelf onto himself. "Oh my god, he actually just- Tucker, did you see that?!"

"See what?" His friend replied.

"Prince! He just- that shelf..." Danny trailed off, keeping his voice quiet. "I thought you could see him. He- he just knocked a shelf onto him- well, not onto- but he just... I thought..." He sighed, looking down at his shoes. "Never mind."

"Dude," Tucker began, turning his head. "I can see that creep, only, I wasn't facing him, I was facing you..." It was clear that Tucker was lying. "Oh my God!" He half screamed, running towards a table of books.

"Wait, what?" Danny followed his friend, looking over Tucker's shoulder. "Oh, my god. Are those what I think they are?"

Tucker held up an old magazine in triumph, "Vintage Playboys!"

Danny pulled it from Tucker's hands, flipping through the pages. "Oh, sweet! How many times do you think my mom would murder me if she found this?"

"Probably a million. But, they're so cool!" He said as he opened it to a middle page. "Is that actually what women look like with no clothes? ...Ew."

Snickering, Danny looked up at his friend. "Are we sure you're straight?"

"I'm going to answer your question with a question," Tucker informed him, "Are we sure _you're_ straight?"

Pulling the magazine from Tucker's hands and placing it on the table, Danny replied. "Yes."

Tucker turned his head before freezing in place. "Can we go?" He asked, sudden fear coating his voice.

"What do you mean, 'go'? We just got here..." He stopped, noticing what Tucker had seen. "Okay, those dolls are terrifying."

A few booths over, there was, what must have at one point been, a doll. Now, it resembled more of a deformed demon. The doll was a girl, whose hair was messed and matted, face broken with a huge crack running down the side, and a missing green eye, with another that only seemed to open half way. Danny could honestly say that it was one of the most terrifying dolls he had ever seen.

And then, almost as if he had come from nowhere, Prince was standing in front of it. "Aww, it's so cute! Could use some paint, though... Maybe a lot of paint..." He turned to Danny, crossing his arms. "I want it. Get that for me."

"_What? _Yeah, no." Danny took a step away from the ghost and pulled Tucker away from the creepy doll. "I'm not wasting my money on that... thing!"

"Be nice to the dolly!" Prince snapped, "Or she won't be nice to you."

_...Nope. Not risking it. _"Um, excuse me!" Danny called, waving the person behind the table over to them. "Uh, how much for this... Uh, this doll?"

With the creepy doll now in a bag, the two- plus Prince- continued to make their way around the area.

Tucker picked up assorted items, pointing out their interesting qualities to Danny. At one point, they passed a booth selling Victorian-styled baby clothes. Prince insisted they buy the doll a particularly expensive one, and this soon became a trend. If Prince saw something he liked, he'd practically order Danny to buy it for him. This seemed to apply to everything- from decorative apples, to a book of blank paper, to a paint by numbers thing, obviously made for small children. And Danny had no choice but to buy it for the ghost; it was either that, or be shocked.

At the moment, Danny wasn't sure which option would be the best. Especially when Prince had Danny stop in front of the baby clothes. _That _had been a little too embarrassing.

Eventually, Danny and Tucker stumbled upon an interesting booth- one of someone claiming to be a psychic.

"Can I help you boys?" Asked the surprisingly male psychic behind the booth.

"...Are you actually a psychic?" Danny asked, watching Prince wander off from the corner of his eye. "Because, you know, my sister says none of this stuff is real." _But after the past couple weeks, I'm willing to believe anything._

"Yes, I am," Replied the man. "And, I can tell you that there is a spirit following you right now."

"No, really?" Danny muttered, and then the words sunk in. "Wait. Wait, what?!"

"What, does that scare you?" the man asked. "My name is Lewis, and for twenty dollars, I can give you a full reading."

Danny hesitated a second, looking over at Tucker. "...I'm going to do it." He placed twenty dollars down on the booth as Lewis motioned to the chair which had been folded up and leaned against the booth's side. Danny unfolded it and sat down, staring at the man in front of him. "How do you know there's a, um, ghost following me?"

The man- Lewis- looked at Danny weirdly for a moment. "You mean you can actually _see_ the spirit?" He asked softly.

"W-what? Pssh, no." One hand made its way to the back of Danny's neck. "I never said that..."

Tucker sighed loudly from behind him. "Yes, he can. I can, too... most of the time. It's confusing, okay?"

The psychic looked puzzled for a moment. "So he isn't a Flicker..." He said more to himself than anybody else.

"A what?" Danny leaned back, looking over at Tucker than back at the confused psychic. "What the heck is a Flicker?"

Lewis sighed. "A Flicker is a person who died, but for some reason they didn't become a spirit. They flicker in and out of our world, to somewhere else. Hence the name, Flicker," he explained. "But if you can see this apparition, it means that they are not a Flicker... Does he have a name?"

"Uh, maybe?" Danny laughed nervously, "I don't know, I mean, I think Prince Phantom is it? But that just sounds stupid..." _Why did I think this was a good idea?_

There was a moment of complete silence, before Lewis' face went white as a sheet, and he lost his balance and almost fell off his chair. "He's alive?"

"Uh... Yes?" Again, Danny looked over at Tucker. "Except for the fact that apparently he's a ghost, so that'd make him dead… Are you okay?"

"Yes... Yes I'm fine," Lewis panted.

"You don't look fine," Danny moved the chair back slightly, both hands moving to the back of his neck. "What did you mean by 'he's alive'? Is he supposed to be ghost-dead, or something?"

The colour began to return to Lewis' face. "That doesn't matter. Daniel, you are in grave danger."

"Well, that wasn't ominous at all." Danny muttered before raising an eyebrow at Lewis. "I- I never told you my name. Tucker, did I tell him my name?!"

"Uh-no...?" Said Tucker, trying to think back. "I don't think so."

Lewis just smiled, pointing to the sign that said 'psychic'. "But you prefer Danny, don't you?" he didn't wait for a reply. "Danny, be careful of the path you take, for many of its ends bring disaster and destruction." Abruptly changing the subject, Lewis took a small bag out from the larger bag at his feet. "This is for you. It will help with your... problem."

"Uh, okay?" Still thoroughly creeped out, Danny opened the bag to find a small metal whistle inside. "What is this? I have a ghost following me, not a dog. How is this supposed to help?"

"It isn't a dog whistle, it's a ghost whistle," Lewis informed him. "Blow it."

Tucker snickered quietly before muttering, "That sounded a little gay... Just saying."

"Tucker, shut up. Just saying." Danny shook his head, looking back over to where Prince was. "Well, here goes." He took a deep breath and blew into the whistle, finding no sound coming from the other end. No, instead he saw Prince fall to his knees, hands over his ears. The ghost curled into a ball, and looked back at Lewis just as the ghost's form almost seemed to shift. "Did you see that?! He- he actually... That is not normal."

"Dude," Said Lewis, "Hate to break it to you, but you're being followed by a spirit of which you can see. Nothing about this is normal."

"Yeah, I got that." A wave of panic rose up in Danny as he once again found himself reminded that all this was real, and he fought to stay calm. "Do you know why he's following me?"

"What," A familiar echoing voice spoke up before Lewis could reply, and Danny froze. _Oh no._ "have I said about talking about me? I thought I made it clear- _don't _do it!"

"My, my, Prince Phantom," Lewis began, "I have heard so much about you. Although, from all the stories, I assumed you'd be taller."

Danny nearly snorted with barely contained laughter, as Prince just looked offended. "Who are you supposed to be?" The ghost asked, making a face. "Ew, you look like Danny."

"Hey!" Danny protested.

"I'm a psychic," Lewis said, "I can see the future, the past, read thoughts, etc. Just like I know that you're thinking about how attractive I am right now."

This time, Danny nearly fell out of his chair, and Tucker had to use it to support himself, as he crumpled over with laughter. Prince just appeared confused, "What- but- you're a guy! That's... Guys and guys isn't a thing! It doesn't make sense! ...Why are you laughing at me?"

Even Lewis was laughing. "Be-because you look... Like a street light! You're bright green!"

"I do not!" Prince snapped, his voice almost starting to squeak. "Stop laughing at me! O-or else! Danny, I'll shock you!"

Danny instantly stopped laughing, and Tucker soon followed. Lewis, seemingly sensing their fear, stopped as well before addressing Prince.

"Now, Prince," He said very patronizingly, "You don't want to go and turn into your father, now, do you? I mean, the awful things that man did..."

"Those are lies! He would never!" Prince was screaming now, "Don't say a word against my father!"

"Whoa, calm down, Potter," Lewis laughed. "You were nothing but a child. You don't know what really happened."

"What's even happening?" Tucker asked, clearly confused.

"No idea," Danny muttered, "But I feel like I should've brought popcorn."

"I know enough!" Prince's voice was actually cracking now, "Leave my family out of this!"

"Yep," Danny nodded, moving to his feet and Tucker's side. "Definitely should've brought popcorn."

"Aww, poor Princey," Lewis mockingly cooed. "The stories were right. You really are nothing but a weak little child."

"Stop it," Prince moved closer to Lewis, staring the psychic in the eyes. "And if you call me that name again, I will destroy everything that makes you human. If you're unlucky enough to become a ghost, I'll destroy everything that makes you that too." When Lewis didn't reply, Prince straightened up. "Come on, we're leaving. Danny? Move."

"Okay, okay!" Danny held up his hands in a sign of surrender, the chain the whistle was on catching on his finger. Danny glanced over at it, before slipping said object around his neck. "Uh... Bye?"

For another few minutes, the three wandered through stalls, before Tucker's phone rang loudly. Quickly, he checked the caller I.D. "It's my mom," the boy explained, as he answered the ringing device. "Hey- okay. Yeah, sure. We're on our way." After hanging up the phone he turned to Danny. "That was pleasant. My mom's here to pick us up."

"Oh, that works." Glancing at the ghost a little ways away, Danny lowered his voice. "Do you think that guy was for real? And his path comment... That was just weird." Almost unconsciously, Danny found himself fiddling with the whistle around his neck.

"Dude, I don't care if he was legit," Tucker began, "He was fucking awesome. Now, come on, let's go."

Ignoring the unease Danny felt in the pit of his stomach, he allowed Tucker to lead the way back to the parking lot. Another feeling was suddenly present in Danny's mind; a feeling like something was missing. Like he'd forgotten something. _But what? I don't have any homework- well, that's what I'm telling Jazz... Jazz..._

_Oh no._

"Oh my god I'm an idiot!" Danny burst out, slapping both palms to his face. "I'm a stupid idiot who- oh, look, your mom's there and she saw me do that! Isn't that just great, another point for the giant screw up!"

"Whoa Danny, calm down," Tucker stated, "What's wrong?"

Danny's hands fell to his sides, "It's Jazz's birthday. And I _forgot! _She's never forgotten mine, but I just forgot hers!" Again, he smashed his palms to his face; ignoring the confused glance he caught Prince giving him. "I'm such an idiot!"

Tucker sighed quietly, although not soft enough for Danny to miss, before saying, "Danny, I honestly don't think she'll mind. She knows that you've been under a lot of... Well, pressure."

Not wanting to worry his friend, Danny didn't reply, other than making a short humming-like sound which could've meant anything.

"How important are birthdays to humans?" Prince suddenly asked, and Danny hesitated before shaking his head.

"It doesn't- just leave it." He sighed, turning to face his ride home. "Let's just... Let's just go."

There wasn't a single part of Danny which expected what happened next. Moments after getting into the car, Prince somehow got his hands on a sheet of paper, and a pencil. Both were all but gently placed into Danny's lap as the ghost whispered, "Sign your name in the corner. I'll take it from there."

"...What?"

"Do you want my help or not?"

Danny made a face as he whispered, "What?"

"Just _do _it!"

Against his better judgment, Danny did.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Jazz sat in her room alone, longingly eyeing the piece of cake that her mom had set on her desk. She chose to ignore it as she flipped through her Chemistry textbook. Oh, how she despised birthdays. All the attention and fake enthusiasm that people get about a simple stupid day. Everybody seemed to decide that the only time they had to care about anybody else was during their birthdays, stupidity. When was the last time she had a birthday? Eight years? No, nine, she had been seven. One kid, Tucker actually, stole all her gifts and ate the cake before anybody else could. That was the last party she ever had.

The slamming of a door pulled Jazz from her memories, and she looked towards her slightly open one. "Danny?" She called hopefully, "Is that you?"

There was no reply, and Jazz hesitantly stood. When they were children, the two had made a deal; they couldn't antagonize each other on their birthdays, and no matter how busy the other was, they wouldn't forget their sibling's birthday. It was a stupid, childish deal, but that didn't make it any less important to Jazz. She liked the little things like that- it reminded her that Danny cared.

With everything that had been going on, Jazz wouldn't blame him for forgetting about that. Her brother was going through a lot, and she knew he was scared- no, terrified. Scared was too light of an emotion, scared was her. But it didn't make him breaking their silly, childish deal hurt any less.

Not that she'd ever tell Danny that. There was no way she'd ever tell her little brother that she was upset he'd chosen to focus on himself rather than her. She already felt guilty about it, no need to actually _admit _she felt that way!

There was an almost flutter-like sound, and Jazz noticed a piece of paper float down in front of her door. _That's weird._ Quickly, she made her way over, and picked it up, unable to stop the gasp of amazement from escaping her.

It was a drawing- a little sketchy, a little cartoony, a few lines were a bit shaky, and drawn only with pencil, but it was gorgeous all the same. Easily, she could make out the individual details- there was a hand, in position to hold out a rose. It almost looked as if the drawing was holding out a flower to her, and for some reason, Jazz found herself trailing her hands along it. She couldn't help herself from whispering, "It's beautiful." She searched for a watermark or any sort of clue as to who had drawn such a thing, even flipping the paper over to find one.

She couldn't be sure if it was the name, or the familiar handwriting which shocked her more, but Jazz nearly dropped the paper in surprise as she read '_Danny Fenton_'.

_Oh my god. Danny can draw? Since when can he draw?!_

"Danny!" She rushed down the hall, quickly opening her brother's door and throwing her arms around him when he stood to meet her.

"Ah- Jazz!" He groaned, squirming out of her hold. "What was that for?"

"You know what it was for!" Again, she moved to hug her brother, only to have him step out of the way.

"If I knew, why would I be asking?" Danny lifted a hand, placing it on his neck. "Jazz, I'm sorry, I-"

"But, it's beautiful!" She cut him off, holding up the drawing. "It's amazing, and I love it, and- wait, sorry, what were you saying?"

"Uh..." Danny trailed off, flipping the drawing over and staring at his name. "I... Guess that art class I got shoved in finally paid off, huh?"

It was quiet, but Jazz could almost swear she heard someone make an _extremely_ offended sound.

"Yeah, considering that the last I heard, you were failing that class." She held out her hand, and Danny handed her back the drawing. "What changed? It's gorgeous, and I love it, but what changed?"

"...I got electrocuted?"

"I'm being serious."

"I got a concussion."

"Try again."

"Fine," Danny sighed, looking off to the side at something Jazz couldn't see. "I... I got a tutor. An art tutor."

Jazz frowned, "That's a thing?"

"Apparently." Danny shrugged, "He's an... interesting guy?"

Smiling now, Jazz held up the paper. "Well, he's done an amazing job! I sure hope you're paying him, because anyone with enough talent to teach you _this_ deserves a huge paycheck!"

"Gee," Her brother deadpanned, "Thanks."

"You know I love you, Danny." She pulled him into another, quicker hug. "I'm going to see if I can find a frame! We can hang it in the hallway- or the kitchen!" Happier than she'd been all week, Jazz basically skipped out of the room. She turned away just in time to miss a semi-translucent figure attempt to beat her brother with a notebook, before shooting off through the roof.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Tardis leaned back in her chair, as she stared at the bowl of water in front of her. Even after all her years, she still found it more relaxing to run her hand through the cool liquid than anything else. Carefully, she ignored the half empty glass of wine next to her as she let some of the water filter through her hands.

In all honesty, she hated lying to Clockwork, especially over something as important as Prince- _oh how stupid that name is._ Part of her, the nice part, wanted to tell Clockwork, although, the far more rational part knew how foolish that was. If he knew, he'd have to tell the Observants. He'd have no choice.

Again, she ran her hand through the water, letting it attempt to wash away her emotions. Of course, it didn't work that way. She took a sip of wine.

There were three quick knocks on the door before it opened, and a loud shout-like noise followed, as the ghost who entered nearly tripped over something on her floor. "I could've _died!_"

Tardis didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. "Oh, shut up, Infinite," She snapped, more harshly than she had meant.

"That's still a stupid name," Infinite muttered, floating over behind her. "What are you doing? Seriously, it's the twenty-first century. We have sinks now."

She sighed, finally turning to face him. "Sorry, would you prefer Daniel? Or maybe 'Little Badger?' Also, I'm not washing my hands, dipstick."

"Your Ember is showing. Not sure how, but its showing." Infinite replied, and took the medallion off from around his neck. He landed on the ground, in the form of an approximately seventeen-year-old Danny Phantom, with the strap of the medallion clutched in his hand. "I'm good with Daniel. Even better with Danny!"

A sigh escaped Tardis' mouth. "Ember... Remind me to call her. It's been awhile since we hung out." She was silent for a moment. "And you'd better not let Hourglass or Stopwatch catch you. I wouldn't be too worried about Tempest or Time Turner, they've got secrets of their own. But definitely Stopwatch."

"Yeah, I know." Infinite shrugged, "He tried to kill me, like, last week. You dragged me away. But what would Hourglass do if she caught me? Laugh at my suffering again?" He crossed his arms, "I swear that child is secretly evil. So, what are you doing?"

Tardis sighed. "Hourglass won't hurt you... Mostly. And what does it look like I'm doing?" she asked as she raised her glass in the air. "Would you like some?"

Raising an eyebrow, Infinite pushed the glass away. "Yeah, no. I'm not even close to legal drinking age- and neither are you!"

"I am in France... I think," Tardis stated before rubbing her head. "What do you want anyways? Can't I have five minutes of peace in this damn place?" Once again, she ran her fingers through the water.

"...But you aren't French." He leaned forward, looking over her shoulder. "Well, you see, it's just- you said that if I stayed, I'd be paid. And I'm curious, when do I get paid?"

"You are here to ask about getting paid?" She asked, clarifying. Without waiting for a response, Tardis reached into a desk drawer, before taking out a thousand in cash. "I assume you want it in American currency?" She asked as she held out the money.

"Well, yeah." He took the money from her, staring at it. "Oh, sweet! Imagine all the coffee I could buy with this!"

She groaned. "Honestly, we could pay you with fucking Starbucks gift cards, and you'd be happy. You seriously need to get help for your coffee addiction," She informed him as she refilled her wine from the bottle she kept beneath her desk.

"I don't have a coffee addiction," Infinite rolled his eyes, stuffing the money into a pocket of his jumpsuit. "Seriously though, why are you playing with the bowl? Does it enhance your melty powers?"

Tardis stiffened for a moment before exhaling deeply. Her so called 'melty powers' were some of her least favorite, not that she would ever admit it. "It's just water, Daniel," She put emphasis on his name. "It is water that I may or may not use to look through Timelines but, at the moment, just water."

"If you keep calling me Daniel I'm going to start calling you Gwyneth." Infinite stepped around her, poking the water in the bowl. "So this allows you to look at the other 'me's, right? Wow, that's just a weird thing to think about. But does it show all of them? Even the... The one with Prince? The Original?" He made a face, "Wow, that is not something I thought I'd be thinking about. And I've been cloned!"

"Actually," Tardis began, hitting his hand away from the water. "It's a hell of a lot more complicated than that... You're more of a duplicate, than a clone. And it isn't my fault you still view your world as something so 2-D."

"Well excuse me; I'm a duplicate, then. Let's just completely ignore the fact that I'm older and was here first." He frowned, "Wow, I sound like a prick, don't I?"

"Yeah," Tardis said, again sounding harsh, "you kind of do. Now run along and spend you're shit. I've had enough interaction for today."

Infinite raised an eyebrow. "Why? What's wrong? ...Did I do something?"

"Well to start, you were born," Tardis said. Trying to get herself to calm down. In all honesty, she was just angry. Angry about Prince, angry about lying to Clockwork, everything. Silently, she swallowed down half of her drink.

"And I also saved your life- afterlife? Well, I did save you, even after you attempted to murder my shoulder. So, I think I redeemed myself." He shrugged, looking down at her. "So what's really wrong? Is it- oh! It's the fact we're lying to Clockwork, isn't it? I knew it! You're upset because we told Hourglass and not Clockwork!"

"Shut up, Infinite!" She almost yelled, before going slightly quieter. "The walls are pretty thin, and in case you forgot," She pointed to the wall which her bed was pushed against. "His bedroom is right next to mine."

"Aww!" Infinite cooed, looking over at her bed. "...Wow, that's a lot of throw pillows. But what are the chances he'd actually be in his room? It's only- wait, what time is it?"

"I have no idea; I'm not the Master of Time." She informed him. "And don't say a word about the pillows! They're a long story..."

"Ah," Infinite hesitated for a second, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, why are you playing with the water?"

"'Cause I can," She replied, her tone still short and harsh. Even around him she found it hard to control her temper sometimes.

Infinite didn't seem to care about how she was treating him. He just rolled his eyes before asking, "What are you looking for?"

"I'm not looking for anything," Tardis said with a sigh. "It's... It's just relaxing to play with the water okay? That's all. When tension gets too high for me to be in the kitchen, I sit in here."

"That's cool and all, but there's got to be something you're looking for." He moved even closer to her, poking the water again. "But... If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. My family's probably wondering why I'm not back yet... I think. I should get a watch. I had one, once. It got run over."

Tardis turned to face him. "Infinite... Are you forgetting that you have a phone?"

Infinite straightened up, blinking twice before smacking himself in the face. "For someone from a family of geniuses, I'm an idiot."

"Well, yeah," She said. "That one is kind of obvious..." She trailed off into silence.

Infinite gave her a curious look before pulling an iPhone from a pocket in his jeans. "Wow. I have wifi here. And it's- huh. Kind of early." He shoved it away, "I really shouldn't be as concerned about the time as I am, considering everything that... Uh, Tardis? The water's doing a thing."

"What?" She asked, jerking her hand out of the water. The translucent surface morphed into an image. "Oh..." She said. "It does that sometimes." She watched as the image became clear, Prince was sitting in a room, a piece of paper and a pen in his hands.

"Is that Prince?" Infinite whispered, "I thought he'd be taller. So where's alternate- _original _me?"

"No idea. And why did you think he'd be taller?" Tardis asked. "_I'm_ taller than him," She added.

"Um, because of his dad?" Infinite had taken to rubbing the back of his neck, still speaking quietly. "Seriously, that guy was huge... And Prince looks nothing like him. Weird."

"That isn't his real dad," Tardis stated. "His biological father is much, much shorter. More around my height."

"Ah, okay." Infinite nodded, "That makes sense. Kind of. Well, a bit. Never heard that part in any of the stories..." He crouched down a little, looking at the vision in the bowl.

"Not many people know," she explained before looking up at him. "Infinite. Why are you still here?"

"Heh, well," He shrugged, placing the medallion back around his neck. His form switched, Infinite Hour standing in Danny Phantom's place. "I'm like ninety percent sure there's someone in the hallway, and I don't want them to see anything when I leave... Yeah..."

"Wait. What?" Tardis asked. "What in the Ghost Zone are you talking about? Nobody's ever in this hallway, aside from Hourglass and Clockwork. Both of which know better than to listen in."

"Yeah, that's completely ignoring the fact that both Hourglass and Stopwatch were right outside the door when you tried to pass me off as the actual Infinite Hour." Infinite frowned as he realized how loud he'd been speaking, "I probably should've been quieter when I said that."

"Maybe a little," She agreed, although she still stood up, and moved towards her bedroom door. "But let's check to see if anybody is there."

Barely a moment after she said that, there was the sound of a nearby door slamming.

"Well," Infinite smiled now, "Guess I was right."

"...Bastard," Was Tardis' curt reply. "Get out of my house. I have hundred-year-old wine to drink and I'm not going to do it with you breathing down my neck."

Putting his hands up in a sign of surrender, Infinite moved towards the door. "Wow, rude. Can I do the thing in here, or would you like me to go to the roof instead?"

Again there was a moment of silence. "Well, whenever you do it around me, I almost die, so probably not best here. But for the love of God, never go on the roof. Can't you just walk like normal people?"

"I'm not walking home! Especially not when I have my amazing ghost powers. So... Roof?"

"...Fine."

.-.-.-.-.-.

It wasn't Clockwork's fault that the walls were thin.

It also wasn't his fault that when Infinite had entered Tardis' room, he'd left the door slightly open. It was too tempting to resist, and despite the fact that he'd given up and hidden in his own room as soon as Tardis had announced her intention to see who was outside, it was still worth it.

Even though he had absolutely no idea what they'd been looking at, Clockwork had learned two very key things; the secret was big enough that Tardis felt bad for keeping it from him- that had been surprising- yet she'd told Hourglass, who couldn't keep a secret, and that the Infinite Hour he'd met really was a fake. He really didn't matter compared to the real one.

_He's like the actual one's mini version. His... Mini-me._

_Well. That's just stupid._

Suddenly, the door swung open. "What the hell was _that_?!" Tardis yelled.

_And that is why I don't eavesdrop. _Quickly deciding lying was his best course of action; Clockwork sat down in a chair and looked confused. "What the hell was what?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?!" She shouted, blazing with anger, as she moved closer to him.

"I think a lot of things; I just don't say most of them." Okay, that might've been a bit harsh. Well, more than a bit.

Tardis took a step back; she faulted for a moment and looked almost hurt. The kind of hurt he hadn't seen in years. She snapped back almost as quickly. "Well then. I guess you don't want _me_ here. Since you're the 'oh so great Master of Time' I guess I should just bow down to you despite your complete bull shit!"

_Yeah, more than a bit. _"I never said that! And what bull shit?!"

"Does it even matter?! You wouldn't care anyways!" she screamed. "I can't believe you! Of all the stupid, cruel, and just idiotic things you've done, this is by far the worst! My conversations in my room are my own, and they are not an invite for you to invade my privacy!"

"I didn't _do _anything!" Clockwork lied, rising to give his words more force. "Do you honestly think I'd _willingly_ spend my time listening to you, and that- that idiot talk about your grand plan, that I don't get to know about?! You think I honestly care about how you and your man slave spend your free time?!"

"Man slave?! What the hell does that make you?!" she yelled.

"Sick of your shit!" Clockwork snapped.

Tardis rolled her eyes. "_My_ shit?! You should try living with _yourself,_ one day. It's fucking hard to deal with your constant needy personality!"

"My _what?!_" _I don't have a needy personality! Do I? No, what if I do... _"And look who this is coming from! You wouldn't last a day living with _you;_ it's a miracle that anyone can even be near you!"

"In case you forgot, I lived _alone_ for almost ten years, while you were curled up and living with the Observants!" she screamed.

Clockwork froze, digging his nails into his palms. He didn't want to remember why that had happened. He couldn't. He couldn't start thinking about the Time War. "Excuse me," He muttered, "Excuse me, for being there when everyone needed me. Excuse me, for letting them drag me off, because they didn't trust me on my own when I was still a child. Excuse me, for taking on responsibility for all this because I had too. Excuse me, for trying to keep going after I lost _everything!_" He paused for a second, glaring at Tardis. "_Excuse me, _for not being the one who left."

Tardis looked like she was going to explode with anger. "First," She spat, venomously. "For the love of fucking everything, stop that!" She motioned towards his hands.

"Oh," He let his hands fall slack at his sides. "Like you?"

She glared at him, but ignored the last comment. "Second, _you_ lost everything? You. You lost everything?" She kept repeating it, as if she were trying to make sense of it. "Are you fucking kidding me?! Did you ever take a step back to look at what happened to _my_ life, you selfish jackass!" She made a noise, it was either laughter or tears, Clockwork couldn't tell, either way it showed her true anger. "I left? I'm not the one that didn't fucking look!"

"I did!" Clockwork snapped, and then motioned to the door. "This conversation is over. I don't know what you hoped to gain from this, but I refuse to just stand here, and let you insult me! Get. Out."

She made that sound again, the half laugh, half cry. "Well," She said, eerily calm. "If you dislike my presence that much, maybe I should just pack up and leave. Make it easier for you, and everybody else." With that, she started towards the door.

Clockwork didn't say anything as she left. He just floated there, digging his nails into his palms. But the second Tardis was out of his room; he fired a blast of ectoplasm at the door, and slammed it closed. He found himself falling back into the chair, in child form this time.

He didn't like fighting with her, especially not like that. Clockwork didn't want Tardis to hate him- why would he ever want that? He just never seemed to think, before he spoke. He always let some stupid comment escape, and ruin everything. That seemed to be a running theme with him, lately. Not only with Tardis, but with the Observants too. He didn't think, he let the wrong thing slip, and he ruined everything.

Or even killed a child.

Clockwork tore off his gloves, throwing them on a side table. His nails were actually digging into his palms now, but it didn't make him feel any better. He still felt horrible, and his situation just felt wrong. And then, from the corner of his eye, he caught the flicker of a flame.

A candle.

_...I don't recall lighting that._

He pulled the candle and its holder closer to him, staring into its flame. He liked candles. Candles made him feel better.

Well, not really. Half the time he just ended up feeling guilty for liking them as much as he did.

"Uh, Clockwork?" A concerned voice asked from his doorway. "What are you doing...?"

Clockwork didn't see the ghost, not completely. The hall was too dim for that. But what he did see shocked him enough to cause him to fall out of the chair and immediately switch to his adult form. He poked his head up, slowly, staring at the ghost. _Time Twister? No, it can't..._

"Clockwork? What's wrong?" The ghost asked. "You look like you've seen, well, to be frank, a ghost..."

Hearing the voice a second time settled it. "Time Turner," Clockwork floated up glancing towards where the candle- which was now out- had fallen. "I- I apologize. I thought you were someone else."

A loud sigh escaped Time Turner. "Yeah, yeah. I know who you thought I was," he said, clearly annoyed. "In other news. What did you do to Tardis?"

_Broke her, probably. _"No idea. Why? What mystical thing have I done wrong now?"

Time Turner ignored his comment, "Well, she's pretty upset. And not her usual 'bakes a soufflé' upset, more like 'get drunk as fuck off tequila' upset. And the only person that can get her this... well, for lack of a better word, hysteric, is you."

"Go me," Clockwork deadpanned, picking up the candle. "We just fought. It was nothing out of the ordinary."

"For the love of God, you're both so damn thick!" Time Turner groaned, "Would it kill you to stop fighting for_ five minutes,_ and see what's right in front of you?"

_...What?_ "I'd be fine. She'd probably explode."

"No, you have just as much trouble. It's part of whatever you two have," he was silent for a moment. "You know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything. Have fun doing... whatever you're doing." With that, he left.

Clockwork frowned, moving to close the door, with the candle still in hand. He knew he shouldn't be feeling guilty; it was such a simple mistake. It meant nothing. But almost seeing Time Twister, that had thrown him off. He didn't want to think of the Time War, and yet he found himself leaning against the door. He could remember the battle as if it had been yesterday- the war cries, hundreds of ghosts being reduced to little more than puddles, and the indescribable pain of a blade dragging through his eye, marking him as a traitor. And then there'd been Time Twister, the one who should have been here right now, standing between him and certain death.

Everyone had died. That, or they'd been like Tardis and Prince- and they'd left. They'd left him alone. Prince hadn't meant to, he'd only been a child then, and now. But Clockwork never got to say goodbye to the little boy who called him his uncle. His second chance to do so was ripped from him.

After everything, it was almost amusing that he still slipped up on occasion and used Time Twister in an argument against Tardis.

Clockwork fired a small blast at the candle, lighting the wick with a green flame.

He'd changed his mind.

He really did like candles.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny was mad. No, mad was too light of a term- furious fit much better.

His parents cared more about their stupid portal than him and Jazz. He'd been home for two weeks now, and he could count the number of time he'd seen his parents for more than five minutes on one hand. They'd been spending it all in their stupid lab, barely sleeping, let alone eating. Danny was pretty sure they'd been surviving on coffee and meal replacement drinks.

_That can't be healthy._

Danny drained the water from the pot on the stove, staring at the noodles inside. Burned, again. _I need a cook book. Or Jazz. Even better, my parents to come upstairs and order a darn pizza!_

Dividing the noodles into two bowls, he took them upstairs. Jazz had insisted she wasn't hungry, and Danny was okay with that. His sister didn't have much of an appetite. Prince, on the other hand, had said that if Danny didn't bring him some food, he'd shock him again. He'd manage to go for three days- since Tuesday- without the ghost shocking him, and there was no part of Danny which wanted to restart that counter.

Kicking the door open, Danny entered his room and set the bowls down at his desk. Prince was across it, by his open window. The ghost kept sticking his hand out of it and pulling it in, shaking it off before poking it back out to the downpour outside.

Danny raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

Prince quickly stepped away from the window and motioned outside, looking bewildered. "The sky is crying."

Danny blinked twice, making his way over to the ghost. "What? No, it's raining."

Prince frowned, watching as Danny closed the window. "Raine's crying? What'd you do to make her cry? She's dead!"

"What- no! Nobody's crying! It's raining, you know, water falls from clouds?" Prince still seemed confused, and Danny rolled his eyes. "I give up. Your food's over there if you-" A flash of lightning cut Danny off, and he felt his heart skip a beat. _Oh. Thunderstorm. _Thunder rumbled, and Danny sat down on his bed. Danny tried to keep himself calm as he wrapped himself up in a blanket, sliding to the floor as he tried to get his currently shallow breathing back to a normal level.

He couldn't.

His heart was pounding in his chest, and Danny couldn't breathe. He found himself shaking, terrified, as lightning flashed again. He kept imagining the lightning coming in for him, shocking him just like the portal had. He couldn't survive it twice. He was going to die. _Oh my God, I'm going to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die don't let me die I'm going to die I can't breathe I'm going to die-_

"Um," Prince's voice cut into Danny's thoughts, "Aren't humans supposed to breathe...?"

The ghost's comment didn't quite register with Danny, as thunder rumbled over it. Prince said something else before rushing out of the room, leaving Danny alone. _I'm going to die. He left me alone and I'm going to die oh god I can't breathe I'm going to get shocked again I'm going to die... God, I feel like I'm going to be sick... I don't want to die... I'm not going to but I am why does it feel like I am? I'm broken and terrified, terrified and broken..._

"Danny?" A familiar voice asked, slicing through his panic.

"Jazz," Danny muttered, his voice cracking. Lightning flashed again, thunder following soon after. Danny pulled the blanket tighter around him, as if it would act as a shield from the storm.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," She cooed gently, walking towards him. "Danny," She said, "Danny, breathe."

Danny tried to do as she said, but his body didn't seem to be cooperating. He was actually sobbing now, and found himself almost moving towards his sister.

Jazz was silent for a moment. "Danny, come with me." She began, "We're going to sit in the bathroom, where you can't see the lightening, okay?"

Danny nodded, and let Jazz help him to his feet. He still held the blanket around him, but let Jazz pull him away. He briefly caught sight of Prince, standing just outside of his room. As they passed him, the ghost shook his head and whispered, "Oh, siblings."

Jazz pulled him into the bathroom and switched on the light, before sitting him down on the closed toilet. "It's okay, Danny," She repeated, "Everything is going to be okay."

"No," Danny choked, grabbing onto his sister's arm. "No, no..."

"'No' what, Danny?" Jazz asked calmly.

"Not okay," He replied, pretty much hugging her arm now. "It's not okay, nothing... Nothing is okay..."

Jazz took a deep breath. "It will be, Danny. I promise. Now, come here," She held out her arms and pulled him close. "It will be okay," She whispered.

Danny wasn't sure how long had passed before he could breathe again, but he was sure that the storm had moved past them by then. He was still terrified, but more than anything, he was embarrassed. Embarrassed that he'd let himself be spooked by something as simple as a thunderstorm. Nobody else was scared of those- Tucker, in fact, loved them! But he'd let himself be scared by just a little lightning. _Good job, Fenton. Good job. _"Jazz?" He muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," She replied, "There is nothing to be sorry about Danny. Nothing."

"But you were probably doing something important," He muttered, "And I distracted you. I pulled you away… I'm sorry."

"Danny, no," she stated firmly. "I was studying, that's all. And my pencil went missing, anyways. I was coming to see if you had one. Danny, you didn't do anything wrong."

"What...?" From the corner of his eye, Danny noticed Prince leaning in the doorway, and twirling a pencil between his fingers. He quickly shoved it in his sleeve once he noticed Danny looking at him. "I... Oh. But... Sorry."

Jazz was silent for a moment. It looked like she was going to ask him something, but let it go. "Have you eaten?" she asked, changing the subject. Thinking back to the noodles in his room, Danny shook his head. "Come on, I'll make you something," She said as she stood up, "What do you want to eat? I think we have chicken fingers and pizza. Probably more."

"Pizza," Danny replied, standing up as well. "Definitely pizza."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"If I can't convince you... Then, I'm coming with you."

"Wait, what? No, no, you don't have to do that..."

.-.-.-.-.-.

When the kitchen door squeaked open, Stopwatch's reaction was to automatically hide himself in the pantry. It was Saturday, after all- and that meant his ghostly healing hadn't quite healed him, yet. So currently, his face looked almost like it'd been hit by a truck. _Stupid uncooperative powers, making me get hurt..._

"Seriously, guys," That damned Infinite Hour was saying, in a tone that made Stopwatch want to punch him in the face. Not that he didn't want to do that normally, his tone just increased the urge. "I can describe Hourglass in two words."

There was a pause before Stopwatch heard his best friend say, "Wait, what?"

Time Turner seemed to laugh at that joke, only furthering the rage Stopwatch could feel boiling inside of him. Not only had this idiotic piece of shit _stolen _his best friend from him, but now he was _insulting _her? _He dies for this. I don't care when, and I don't care how, but I'm going to kill Infinite for that comment._

_...I wonder if this makes me sound creepy, or anything? Nah, I'm sure I'm fine._

"Well, that was a dick move." _No shit, Tempest, what amazing news do you have to share with us next? There's no such thing as rain in the Ghost Zone?_

"I could make a dirty joke here, but I won't." Infinite sounded smug, "After all, why would I make a dick joke, when I could make a joke about Uranus?"

There was a sputtering sound before Tempest choked out, "I thought you said you weren't going to make that joke!"

Again, Hourglass replied, "Wait, what?"

"I didn't," Stopwatch peaked out through the partly open door just in time to see Infinite put his feet on the table, and lean back in his chair. "It was planet pun. You know, those things in the stars? Venus, Mars, Pluto, Earth?"

Tempest leaned across the table to hit Infinite's feet with... Some sort of stick. _I don't think I want to know. _"Get your damn feet off the table, before I cut them off."

Laughing nervously, Infinite complied.

"Pluto?" Time Turner seemed confused. "But... That's not a planet. It's too small!"

Infinite made the most overly dramatic and horrified sound Stopwatch had ever heard. "Take that back!"

"Why?" Time Turner didn't seem at all concerned and, from what Stopwatch could see, just seemed more annoyed with Infinite than anything. _I knew there was a reason I liked him. _"It's a Dwarf Planet. It doesn't count."

"It still does! It counts in our hearts!" Infinite was almost shouting now, sounding completely serious as he pumped a fist into the air. "Viva la Pluto!"

Stopwatch caught Tempest and Hourglass making confused motions towards each other, as Time Turner rolled his eyes. "Viva la fuck you."

"Viva la no." Infinite seemed furious as he reached out and grabbed onto Time Turner's chair. "For Pluto!" He shouted as he caused Time Turner to fall to the floor.

_...Why do I feel like that was a perfectly logical reaction?_

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Tempest snapped, pulling Infinite's own chair out from under him. He seemed to expect that, though, as he slowly floated to his feet. "You could've hit his death wound! You could've killed him! How would you feel then, huh?!"

_Oh shit, we broke Tempest. ...I wonder if there's any popcorn in here…_

"Sorry! I didn't think!" Infinite held his hands up in a sign of surrender, taking a step back as Time Turner slowly sat up. "Is he okay?"

"Well, let's see." Time Turner deadpanned, staring at his palm. "No. My hand must've gotten caught on a nail or something and now there's a huge gash across my palm. Would you like to see?"

Infinite nearly threw himself across the room, away from Time Turner. "N-no!" His voice cracked, "Not really!"

"What's wrong? Did someone cause you to badly injure your hand by pulling out of your chair?" Time Turner asked, putting pressure on his palm as he moved to his feet. "Wait, no, that would be me."

"J-just don't come near me with that!" Infinite sounded almost as if he was begging. "Please!"

"With what?" Tempest asked, "His hand?"

"His _blood!_" Infinite screamed, and the group of them lapsed into silence.

"Uh..." Time Turner frowned, "I'm a ghost. I bleed ectoplasm."

"You know what I mean!"

The door creaked open, and everyone turned towards it. "I was fully intending to just pass by," Clockwork's voice rang out, and Stopwatch moved deeper into the pantry. "But _what?_"

"Infinite hurt Time Turner." Hourglass reported, quietly. "And now he's scared of touching his ectoplasm."

"Is he, now?" Clockwork said, "Well, that's an issue, isn't it? We'll have to fix that." He floated over to Time Turner, taking off his gloves and placing them on the table. "Let me see."

Despite the fact that Stopwatch knew nobody in the room could see him, he still found himself shying away from the door as Time Turner let out a quiet hiss of pain. _Why is Clockwork in here? He wouldn't just pass by, that's too convenient! What's going on here?_

"Hourglass," Clockwork asked, "I have a question, and I know you can answer it."

"Leave her alone!" Infinite said, and Stopwatch looked out of the pantry to see Clockwork turn towards him, examining his gloveless hand.

"Oh, would you look at that. There's still some ectoplasm on my hand," The Time Master mused, looking up at the now frozen Infinite. "Do you want to see?" Infinite frantically shook his head, and Clockwork lowered his hand. "That's what I thought. Hourglass-"

"No," Hourglass muttered, "Sorry, but I- I can't, no..."

Clockwork reached over, grabbing his gloves. "And why's that? What will happen if you tell me?"

"You'll tell the Observants!" Hourglass snapped, and Stopwatch stepped back. _That's terrifying. _"You won't have a choice, and they'll come get him, and he'll have to go back there, and nobody told me that they _hurt _him!" Her voice cracked as she finished, staring up at Clockwork. "Uh... I…"

"Well," Tempest spoke up, "I have no idea what just happened. Are... Are you two okay, or should we leave?"

"...No," Clockwork's voice was quiet, oddly enough. "I was just- I should go." He rushed out of the room, leaving the Elites alone.

"Well," Time Turner said, "That happened. Not sure what that was, but it happened."

Hourglass' only reply was to quietly whisper, "Tardis is going to skin me."

_...But I thought they didn't hurt her._

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was 4:27 a.m., Saturday night- Sunday morning, technically- and Danny didn't know why he was awake. It was raining, sure, but there was no storm.

But he almost felt... lonely.

Danny couldn't explain it. The feeling had been present ever since his panic attack last night. It'd always been there, in the back of his mind, but never like this. Never this strong.

Danny rolled out of bed, falling to the floor. Something else was suddenly there in the back of his mind- it was like a mental tug, almost. And it was leading him straight down. Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed the whistle from the table beside his bed and slipped it around his neck.

Hesitantly, Danny stood and began his way downstairs, his father's snores echoing through the hallways. The tug seemed to get weaker as he moved downstairs, and was almost gone by the time Danny found himself in the kitchen. It was then that Danny noticed two things; the lab door was open, and his breath coming out in a cold puff.

_...Prince?_

Hesitantly, Danny took a step towards the door. He didn't want to go into the lab. There was _no _part of him which wanted to go in there.

And then the loneliness came at him in a wave, so unexpected, that Danny actually stumbled forwards. His hand went through the doorway, grabbing onto the railing, and Danny found himself frozen in place for nearly half a minute.

_Okay,_ he breathed deeply, taking a step forwards. _Okay. Okay, I can do this, okay..._ Slowly he made his way down the stairs, and the quiet sounds of a voice reached his ears. _Prince? Stupid ghost, what are you doing?_

"-So I went and stole her pencil," Prince was saying as Danny reached the bottom the stairs. He poked his head around the corner to see the ghost sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring at the ghost portal, which was now swirling green. "She went to check on him, and he's okay now. You'd be proud, Mom." His voice cracked, and there was a moment before Prince continued. "Oh yeah, and I've been drawing! A lot! The human got me some paper, and these really cool things called pencil crayons! I'm at least twice as good as Auntie would be now. Don't tell Uncle, because he'd tell me not to be rude, but I might even be better than that!" There was a moment of silence, and Prince seemed almost proud. "'Course, then Daddy could tell them to just kiss already. I wonder what would've happened if they'd actually gotten together. I know Hafia would've jumped at the chance to play at their wedding, but I wonder what else... Maybe I'd get a cousin!"

Danny frowned, hesitantly stepping onto the lab floor. It was freezing beneath his feet, but Danny still slowly took a step forward. He hadn't even really considered that Prince might have a family out there, waiting for him to come back. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if their situations were reversed, and his family was the one missing their son. They'd probably tear up the entire world trying to find him. _And I'd be stuck in another._

"I always wanted a cousin, a cousin would be great." Prince had started speaking again, "I mean, Hafia's great and all, but she's my sister! And she's a girl- there's nothing wrong with that, Mom! I just want a _boy_ friend. Dad's great, but he's old. And freakishly tall. I wonder if I'll ever be tall like him... I mean, I am taller than the human. Also, I take back everything I said about wanting a pet human when I was little. They're too high maintenance."

_...I'm going to kick him._

"Like, this one came as a package deal. His parents take care of themselves, but his sister actually forgets eating is a thing!" _What?_ "I'm serious! Imagine how horrified Auntie would be to hear that! She'd flip, and then stuff the human- Jazz. Yeah, her name's Jazz. Could you tell Auntie for me? Forgetting food can't be good for you. And then there's my human's friends- Tucker and Blacky. I don't like Blacky's real name, so she's Blacky now. And they hate me! Tucker threw something at me, and it really hurt, and Blacky kept whispering words in this weird language when my human wasn't looking. It made me want to leave, but I can't leave." Prince shook his head, "I tried. This is as close as I can get to home without hurting myself. I'm stuck. And whenever I try to go far away from my human... I get shocked. And it hurts, it hurts a lot. It's like I'm leashed, but leashes can break! That, or go up in flames... They're going to kill me if they ever figure out I know that... And I don't think my human knows about any of this."

"Prince," Danny spoke up, causing the ghost to jump to his feet in surprise. "I'm not your darn human."

"Oh, I uh..." Prince looked down, rubbing his wrist. "Sorry."

Raising an eyebrow, Danny looked passed the ghost and into the portal. He didn't like looking at it, honestly. It spooked him. "Just... Don't do it again." He waved at the portal, hoping Prince's family could see him. "Sorry to bother you! Carry on talking to your son, Mrs. Phantom!"

"Wait, what?" Prince looked back at the portal, then at Danny. "Oh, no, that's- there's no one there."

"What do you mean?" Danny frowned, "I just heard you tell your Mom about how I was your human, and I didn't know what a leash was!"

Prince shook his head, rubbing his wrists. "My... My Mom's dead."

What Prince had said didn't quite process with Danny, "Well, yeah. Ghosts typically are."

"No," Prince muttered, "My mom was a ghost. Then she died. Like my dad. And my aunt, my uncle..." He stared at the ground, shaking almost. "My baby sister. They're all dead. Ghost dead."

"...Oh." _He's an orphan? Now, I feel like a dick._

"Yeah."

"So the little blonde girl was...?"

"Hafia, okay?!" Prince snapped, shaking. "Her name was Hafia, and she's dead because I couldn't save her! _I _screwed up! I let her fall! Now everyone's dead, and I'm stuck with you, which is just as bad!"

"Gee, thanks." Danny muttered, taking a step towards Prince. "What's so bad about me? What did I do to you?"

"I was free!" Prince shouted, and Danny winced. _He better not wake up my parents. Wait, free?_ "I was free, I was safe, I was away from them, and then you and that stupid chick in a hood ruined it! Just when I think I'm free, you and your stupid friends appear! You used my obsession against me; do you have any clue how bad that is?! No? Well, neither do your friends, since they make me do that stupid dance every chance they get!"

Danny waited for him to finish, doing his best to look the ghost in the eye. "I'm sorry."

Prince stopped, blinking twice. "What?"

"I'm sorry," Danny repeated, "I'm sorry that your family's gone, and that my friends are dicks to you. But in their defense, you're the one who kept shocking me!"

"I was trying to break the leash!"

"What the heck is a leash?!"

"I don't know anymore, okay?!" Prince groaned, making a wild motion with his hands. "It's supposed to be a way of connecting two physical, non-sentient objects! Obviously that's wrong, because there's nothing on you _but_ you that's leashed to nothing on me _but_ me! And it can be broken with fire- but you've burned stuff a few times since we got stuck, and it's still there! And finally, a leash will break if it is not refreshed weekly- which is pushing it- and it'll break if you pull against it enough! Whatever this is, it's n-not temporary, and it won't snap," He stared at the ground, wrapping his arms around himself. "We're stuck like this..."

Danny was silent for a moment as the words sunk in. "There has to be something."

"T-there isn't. There's nothing."

More silence, for longer, this time. Hesitantly, Danny stepped forward. "We can make the most of it. Start again, I mean." He held out a hand, "Hi, I'm Danny."

Prince wiped at his eyes before looking up at Danny, angry once again. "No. You know what? No. You think I can just put all that behind me and pretend you're innocent in all this? Well, guess what, you can't!" He swatted Danny's hand away, "Not after everything you did, you- you stupid human!"

"What _I_ did?!" Danny scoffed, glaring at the ghost in front of him. "Oh I'm sorry, I'm not the one who kept shocking the other, and gave them fricking Epilepsy!"

"Oh, you want a shock?" Prince floated up slightly, looking down at Danny. "I'll show you a shock!"

"_No!"_ Danny screeched, quickly blowing the ghost whistle. Prince crashed to the ground, hands over his ears. He swallowed nervously as he peeled them off, looking up at Danny now. "Prince Phantom, Joseph, _dah_ whatever your name is! You will not shock me again!"

Prince tensed, staring up at Danny as the order took hold. He relaxed slightly, rubbing his wrists once again. "You know," He muttered, "All you had to do was ask." Prince's form flickered, and then he was gone, leaving Danny alone in the creepy basement lab.

_...He has an obsession to serve. If he's told to do something, he has to do it._ Danny slapped both palms to his face, groaning loudly. _All I had to do was ask._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Clockwork stared at the scene in front of him, gripping his staff tightly with both hands. It hadn't been difficult at all to put the pieces together; Prince was alive. Infinite knew, Tardis knew, Hourglass knew, and they'd all agreed to not tell him.

Honestly, Clockwork couldn't blame them.

This fell in the category of things he _had _to tell the Observants, or face the 'consequences'. And Prince had gotten away from them, all on his own. He really had to give that child more credit. But now, there was no possible way he'd be treated like a person if he was forced to go back. Clockwork was not going to let him go through all the pain they'd force him through. Not again. _Never _again.

Last time, the Observants had the upper hand. Prince had no power of time- more commonly and stupidly known as Timey Powers- so Clockwork couldn't claim that he belonged with him. That, combined with using something utterly ridiculous against him, had led to them stealing his nephew. But not this time. Clockwork had the upper hand now, and he knew exactly what he was going to do.

Reaching out, he flicked his hand across the portal in front of him. The scene changed, to a crowded group of people in an alternate Timeline.

He would do nothing.

It wasn't Clockwork's first choice, honestly. But his first choice wasn't possible. He couldn't go get Prince's father, and overthrow the Observants. The world didn't work like that. So Clockwork had to settle for this choice; the right one.

Prince was connected to a human- and compared to the one Clockwork had had the misfortune to see previously in that Timeline, a very strong one. However, this would be what saved him- though a Halfa, as they were part ghost, would still be forced to follow the Observants' rules, a full human would not. That extended to anyone who was connected, or leashed, to said human. As long as Prince was with this version of Daniel Fenton, he was safe. If the Observants knew about him being there, however, they'd try to find a loophole. Most likely, they'd have Daniel killed. That would end the protection he'd have over Prince, who'd be back under the Observants' control.

Clockwork wouldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let anyone die- not Daniel, and especially not Prince. So he'd do what he did best; lie. He'd lie and say he thought Prince was gone, consequences be damned. He was not the Observants' dog, and he would not follow their rules when it put Prince in danger. He'd convince everyone, and he'd lead them away from Prince if the need arose. The punishment would fall on him, and not Prince, if it came to that, and he'd have time to figure out how Prince and Daniel were connected. He'd be one step ahead of the Observants. No matter what happened he had to stay ahead. He refused to let Prince go back there. Prince's parents were gone now, so it fell to Clockwork to protect him.

He knew his chances of success were slim to none. But in no world did that mean he wouldn't try.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Don't be ridiculous. I can help!"

"You really don't need to do that... I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt that. But what would your brother say if he knew you were doing this, let alone by yourself? Let me help you."

"...Fine. Just don't get in my way! I _will _change the past! I don't care how many tries it takes, I will change the past, and I _will _bring them back! That; I promise."

* * *

Yay, we fixed Clockwork! And… Broke Prince…

Meh, he'll be fine. Eventually. In a few chapters.

So, because refreshing the information people have is good, I'm going to talk about the favorite character poll again! Long story short, there's no set place to vote- just tell us wherever! All we want to know is which character you like the most. This has little influence on the plot of the story, but may influence which characters we do scenes from the point of view from. For example, last chapter there was a vote for Stopwatch, so next chapter will have more of him as plot got in the way during this chapter.

Oh, the horror. There was _plot._ And a surprising lack of Sam in it. Not sure how that happened. At least there'll be more of her soon- next chapter's an adaptation of Mystery Meat!

Any sort of love for this story is greatly appreciated! But if any reviews turn out to be flames, they'll be used to light more suspicious candles for Clockwork.

Just wait a bit. You all will hate me for that joke.


	4. Bridge: Fairly Odd Science

Fun fact; I wrote this a month ago. Why it's just being posted now can be summed up with my friends are extremely busy and very lazy.

In other news, hello! Been a while, hasn't it? School is evil, especially to LoveWritingStories. It brutally murders her motivation to write when it's not like 2:00 am. My motivation however never seems to die when it comes to Connections, so back in January when I got up early thinking I had an exam when I really didn't this was the result. A bridge chapter. *Dramatic music plays*

Right, I should probably explain those.

Bridge Chapters are something LoveWritingStories and I came up with mostly for one subplot later on in the story. You see, since this is a series rewrite, the episodes were all given a set date. Some events happens in between these set dates and can't be included in the main chapter without you know, reaching 20 000 words. Bridge Chapters, as you've probably noticed, are shorter than the others. That is because they focus on one event, usually one LoveWritingStories and/or I really wanted to write. I know I'm not explaining this very well, but all in all they're just shorter chapters focusing on a specific event which couldn't be worked into the chapters around it.

Blah, what is the English language.

Anyway, here it is; the science fair which started this mess in the first place! Also Tempest being an exposition fairy and hinting towards future plot points, and the Big Bad Mr. Douche makes his first appearance.

**Chapter Warning;** minor swearing. Do I even need to say it at this point? You should be expecting it.

Onwards!

* * *

**Bridge 1**;

Danny opened the fridge, looked into it, and sincerely hoped the breath of misty air which came from his mouth was because he'd just shoved his head in the fridge.

"What are you making?" Prince asked, and Danny found himself extremely tempted to throw a jug of milk at him.

"Nothing," Danny said, quickly closing the door. He really didn't feel like listening to Prince annoy him until he made him food. "I'm just bored."

Prince crossed his arms, "You humans are weird."

Danny kept his voice quiet, so Jazz hopefully wouldn't hear him talking to the ghost she still hadn't noticed. "Says the dead guy who eats all my food."

Prince scoffed as Danny walked past him, starting back upstairs with the ghost right behind him. "I don't see what the fact I died has to do with it."

"You're eating food and you're dead. It's pointless; you don't need it." He got to the top of the stairs, taking his hand off the rail. Prince floated right behind Danny, still obviously annoyed. "Don't you have, like, dicks or something you could be drawing instead of bothering me?"

"Danny?" Jazz poked her head around the upstairs corner, and Prince quickly went invisible. "Who were you talking to?"

"Nobody?" Danny offered, putting a hand on the back of his neck. "Maybe you're hearing things."

"Rude," Prince whispered right by Danny's ear, nearly causing him to flinch. "Be nice to your sister."

Jazz didn't look convinced, but dropped the subject as she walked past him down the stairs, empty water bottle in hand. "Didn't you have that science fair tonight?" She didn't wait for an answer before entering the kitchen.

Danny blinked, "I did? Wait- oh, crud!" He ran into his room, looking over at the clock. It was 5:51 and the science fair started at 6:00. "Oh, oh crap. No, no no no!" Danny refused to be late. He'd let Tucker and Sam down enough since the accident, and for every minute a member of any group was late they'd be docked marks. Sam needed to get as high a grade as possible on this, and he was letting her down.

It took Danny a moment to realize Prince was speaking. "I'm going to steal your backpack, okay?" He shoved some pencil crayons into a pocket and swung it over his shoulder.

"Crap," Danny whispered, his breathing quickly getting shallower. "Crap, crap oh god I can't get there in under ten minutes! I can't get- how am I going to get there?! Oh god," Both his hands smacked into his face, running through his hair and over the back of his head. "Oh god."

Prince floated over, grabbing onto Danny's arm. "Stop freaking out or I'll go get your sister. You need to breathe you _stupid_ human." Trying to calm himself down, Danny forced himself to breathe normally. "Here's your choice; either you stop whatever that was and just go to the thing, or you let me take you and later buy me candy. Pick one."

It took Danny a second before he realized what had just been offered. _You hated me like a week ago. What is this, some sort of weird trap?_ "What? I- thank you?"

"Yes!" Prince pumped his fist into the air, "Candy, yes!" He scooped Danny off of his feet, and Danny screamed as he wrapped his arms around the ghost's neck, clinging tightly. "You squirm and I drop you."

"Put me down!" Danny said, squirming as Prince floated upwards. "No seriously _Prince Phantom put me down!_"

Prince tensed and dropped him on the ground. "I hate you."

"Jesus, if you're going to do something like that tell me first!" He shot a look at the clock. They'd wasted two minutes. "…Okay, just- just don't drop me. How fast can you get me there?"

"What's the magic word?"

"Prince Phantom get me to the school in under five minutes and don't drop me."

Prince tensed again, then lifted Danny up. "I really hate you." They formed together with a flash of light, and seconds later, with another flash of light, Danny found himself separated and standing right by the school.

"What."

Prince whispered something which Danny only caught a few words of- "…How did… that…?"- before glaring at Danny. "I hope you fail." He disappeared, and Danny shrugged. _Oh well._

He ran into the school, reaching the gym where the science fair would be. Sam and Tucker had set up a little ways away from Sam's friends, Mia and Rebecca, and there was a tower of beakers a little ways away. Sam and Tucker noticed Danny at the same time he noticed them, and greeted him with smiles and waves.

"Dude, you made it!" Tucker said, slapping Danny on the back.

"We told Lancer you had a doctor's appointment," Sam said. "So play along with that."

Danny nodded, moving to the table their stuff was set up on. Sam's laptop was set up, and hooked up to a projector. A screen hung behind them. "So, what are we doing?"

Sam pressed a button, and with the help of that blue box from a TV show Danny didn't watch, the title was revealed to be 'space technology through the ages.'

Danny raised an eyebrow, looking over at his friends. "Really?"

"Hey," Tucker shrugged, "It was either that or Bill Cipher and personally I think the TARDIS fits a lot better."

"You watch Gravity Falls?" Sam said in a quiet voice, and Tucker nodded. "Awesome! Are you in all of my fandoms?"

A breath of misty cold air escaped Danny's mouth, and he tried to cover it up with a cough. _Darn it, Prince._ "I'm going to go look around while you two keep being fandom trash, okay?"

"You act like you _don't_ have a shrine to NASA in your room," Tucker said, and frowned. "Dude, what's wrong?"

"Is it your ghost?" Sam asked, and Danny slowly nodded.

"He's doing... something," Danny muttered, "I don't know what's up with that sense thing. It keeps going off and I can't figure out why!"

"Maybe it's because you sleep with the portal a few floors under you?" Sam offered, "That much radiation can't be good for you."

"I already have epilepsy, what could I get that's worse?"

"Cancer?"

"Don't you have that ghost whistle?" Tucker asked, and Danny grabbed at the metal object he kept around his neck. "Just blow it if you're worried."

"Right," Danny muttered, "I'm gonna do that in the hallway."

"I'll come with you!" Sam offered, "Cover for us, Tucker?"

Tucker nodded, grinning. "Make sure you guys have protection!"

Sam looked horrified, "I'm going to smack you."

"Oooh, kinky. Alas, you are not my type, fair maiden."

"Sam," Danny poked her arm, "Let's go."

"Just a minute," She said, and Danny noticed that Rebecca and Mia suddenly seemed very interested in them. "I'll have you know-"

Danny quickly left, not wanting to witness the upcoming fight.

Slipping through groups of parents and teachers, Danny made his way down the one hallway which seemed abandoned. Quickly checking to see if anyone was watching or had followed, he lifted the whistle from under his shirt and blew hard.

Prince crashed into the ground right beside him, rubbing his right ankle as he sat up. Danny shifted his weight as his own ankle quickly became sore.

"Why would you do that?" Prince groaned, looking up at Danny. "What do you want?"

Danny took a deep breath, "Why do you keep setting off my ghost sense?"

Prince blanked twice, "Your what?"

"That misty thing that comes from my mouth sometimes?" Prince still seemed confused, and was making rather comical expressions as he tried to figure out what Danny meant. "You're a ghost and it goes off whenever you do a thing? I needed a name for it, okay?!"

The ghost slowly stood, and spoke softly. "You can sense ghosts?"

"Well, I can sense you, and you're a ghost, so yes." Danny crossed his arms, "What were you doing?"

"Standing, presently," Prince mirrored Danny, "What about you?"

Danny jabbed a finger into Prince's face, "I will order you."

"And I will punch you."

"Prince Phantom _never_ punch me."

Prince tensed, and then took a step towards Danny. The human shrunk back, hands cradled in front of his chest. "There's many, many things I can do besides punch you, _human._ I could kill you with a simple flick of my wrist, and you would be wise to remember that."

Danny stepped back, trying to hide his fear. "But you won't. I won't let you hurt anyone!"

"Right," Prince scoffed, "Because you can stop me."

Sam's voice rang out cold and clear, "Prince Phantom, do the Macarena."

Danny turned around, ignoring the dance the ghost behind him was being forced to do. "Sam!"

"Miss me?" She, too, ignored the ghost behind Danny. "Come on, we should go, if your ghost problem's done. I don't want Tucker left alone with Mia." The last part was muttered, and Danny wasn't sure if he had been meant to hear it.

"Why?" He smiled, and the two began to leave while ignoring Prince's protests. "Scared he'll flirt with her?"

Sam looked at him in confusion. "What? Sorry, I was thinking about something else."

Automatically, Danny found himself wanting to bang his head into a wall. "Never mind."

They re-entered the gymnasium, and found that Tucker had provided them with chairs. Parents and other students who'd been dragged there walked around, examining the more interesting of the experiments. As theirs was simply a PowerPoint, the trio was mostly ignored. They wasted time by playing dress up games, watching youtube videos, comparing favourite foods- apparently Sam didn't eat anything with a face on it-, and trying to ignore Danny's assorted bad puns.

"Did you hear the one about the bed?" Danny asked as both Sam and Tucker gave overly dramatic groans. "Good, because it hasn't been-" He cut off with a gasp, curling over with both hands on his stomach. He felt like he'd just been punched in the gut. His ghost sense curled out from his lips, and Danny tried to focus on absolutely anything else as more pain came in blasts- one to his right leg, another to his left side, and it felt like someone had cracked his ribs.

Sam and Tucker were shouting his name, but Danny could barely hear. He'd fallen out of his chair at some point in time, and by the time Danny could focus again he was lying under the table. He'd bitten his lip, and now blood was trailing down his chin.

_Prince said he could kill me with a flick of his wrist._ Frantically whipping the blood from his chin, Danny scrambled out from under the table and ignoring the protests from his friends, Danny ran back to the abandoned hallway. The coppery taste of blood still in his mouth, Danny grabbed the whistle and blew.

Prince crashed through the roof, hands pushed against his ears. He looked absolutely horrible- his black and white clothes were stained with green ectoplasm, and one of his feet just looked _wrong._

"What the hell do you want?!" Prince snapped, "I'm kind of busy right now, in case you haven't noticed!"

"Oh," Danny wiped some more blood from his mouth, "Trust me, I noticed. Is this what you can do? Make me feel like I'm dying? Well I have news for you, Prince Phantom, I'm not being controlled and I'm especially not being controlled by a ghost!"

Prince suddenly went very quiet, eyes flickering to something just behind Danny. "Danny, listen to me. You need to blow that whistle."

"No," Danny shoved it into his shirt. "I'm not falling for your tricks. My parents were right about things like you. Let's get something straight here; you hang out in my house and you follow my rules. I could order you to do whatever I want and you'd have to do it. So don't. Make me. _Angry._ Are we clear?"

A pause, and Prince's eyes flickered from Danny to something behind him once again. "Danny," He whispered, struggling to stand. "Danny, move."

"I said," Danny snapped, "Are we clear?!"

Something touched Danny's back, and for a moment he stumbled forwards. Next thing Danny knew, he was lying on his back in the gym and glass was shattered around him.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Tempest heard the door open and close, and wasn't surprised when Time Turner reached over her shoulder to shove a peach in her face.

"Thanks," She said, taking it and turning her attention back to the Timeline.

Eating wasn't something most ghosts actually had to do, though, like sleeping, most of them still chose to do it. Repeating such human things in death helped process ectoplasm, making it easier to regain energy after-

A thought occurred to Tempest in the middle of her internal info dump, and she grinned as she turned back to Time Turner. "Guess what I just realized?"

He stopped in the middle of peeling an orange. "What?"

"You know how in Harry Potter you're supposed to eat chocolate after a dementor attack?"

Time Turner groaned, sliding off the chair he had perched on. "Leave that stupid book out of it!"

"Books. There's seven." She chose to leave out the fact that her knowledge was second-hand at best and that she'd never actually read any of them. It was more fun to watch her friend squirm.

"Yeah, whatever," He went back to perching in the chair. "It's not my fault Ghostwriter likes to read books that don't exist yet."

"How does he even do that?" Tempest mused, taking a bite of her peach. Time Turner's friend was definitely one of the strangest ghosts she'd ever seen. "There's like three reasons I can think of from the top of my head about why he shouldn't be able to. He's not timey, is he?"

"About as timey as me or Infinite," Time Turner said, pulling apart his orange. "I honestly don't know how he does what he does. Magical author powers, I guess."

Tempest was silent for a moment, "I have to ask. Remember how you said Infinite couldn't be Elite because he wasn't timey? Why did you say that?"

"What- oh. Yeah, that was because I'm a horrible person and actor," He shrugged, "Look, the second Stopwatch figures out he and Hourglass are the only ones of us who actually have these stupid powers-"

"Not so loud!" She shushed him, "I still haven't told Clockwork or Tardis I don't have any."

Time Turner raised an eyebrow, "They aren't stupid. They probably already know."

Tempest couldn't bring herself to say that she had done everything in her power to make sure that her disguise of being a time manipulator, a power which both Clockwork and Tardis had originally possessed, would hold if her original disguise had failed. And had, rather spectacularly. It was her own fault, really- she should've checked the facts behind that stupid rumour. That was her own fault.

"-pest? Hey, Raine!" Tempest realized a moment too late that Time Turner was speaking to her, and she visibly flinched at the sound of her 'human' name.

"Tyler," She replied, using the bored tone that was usually reserved for annoyances like Stopwatch.

"Don't zone out on me. That's rude."

"Really? Hadn't noticed," She took another bite of the peach. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Time Turner sighed, "Look, you have your secrets, I get that. I do too! So does everyone here! But if you just tell them you're only here to hide from the Ob-"

"Don't say their name!" Tempest cut him off, "We've been over this! If you say their name their portals change and focus on you!"

"Alright, alright! Sheesh," He made a motion of surrender. "That's such a weird thing to know."

"This is coming from the guy who learned enough about first aid from books to be considered a doctor."

"Hey, I would've been an actual doctor, but unfortunately," he motioned to himself, "I died and had to improvise."

Tempest's reply failed as she sensed… something.

Though none of the other ghosts there- not even Clockwork- knew it, certain types of ectoplasm left behind certain impressions in the zone around them. Normal ghosts wouldn't have been able to sense them, but then again, Tempest wasn't a normal ghost. She normally tried to ignore the oddities with her core, but this case was different. This one was odd, and familiar.

Nearly two months ago now, there'd been an event which had been blacklisted the second it was over. On a couple of occasions during it, she'd sensed something similar. But that had been different- there'd been so much going on that of course she'd be sensing strange ectoplasm. It wouldn't have made sense if she didn't! Then again, there were only two points in it where she'd sensed that ectoplasm…

Something fell over in the hallway, and she looked over at Time Turner. He seemed just as confused as she felt. The both of them slowly moved towards the door, not sure what to expect, but stopped when it was shoved open.

Infinite Hour fell in, landed on his back, kicked the door closed, and whispered 'fuck' three times before he noticed the other ghosts in the room. There was a long, awkward pause before Infinite rolled onto his stomach. "So," He said, elbows on the floor and head in his hands as he slowly kicked his feet back and forth. "Come here often?"

"Oh," Tempest slouched, "I thought something important had happened." Had he been what she was sensing? _That's weird. Shapeshifting doesn't normally leave any strange ectoplasm behind._

"Hey!" Infinite quickly stood, brushing himself off. "That was rude. Clockwork's the only one allowed to say I'm not important."

Time Turner stepped forward, "Why?"

Infinite shrugged, "Because he was stressed and I was annoying when I first showed up here, and he said I didn't matter. According to Tardis he does this thing where it takes him a bit to realize he's fucked up and can be really self-destructive. I don't want him blaming himself, so I'm turning it into a giant joke." He smiled, obviously proud of himself. "Genius, I know."

"Excuse me?" Tempest said, never once changing her tone. "Listen here you completely useless ass, nobody here- not Clockwork, not Tardis, or even that little fuck called Stopwatch- needs or wants your pity. If they fuck up, you acknowledge it; you call them out on it, and then you move the fuck on with your life."

Much to her surprise, Infinite slowly nodded. "I see what you mean. That does make a lot of sense. But-" He shrugged again, "I'm still gonna do my method. No offense intended, but I really want him to not hate me and your method doesn't look like it'll give me any brownie points."

Time Turner frowned, "So you're trying to bribe Clockwork into liking you by letting him be a jerk to you?"

"Well, when you put it like that, I-"

"Sound like a piece of shit in a humanoid form?" Tempest offered, "Good, that means we've done our job right."

Infinite's posture quickly shifted, seeming less friendly and more annoyed. "Well, _excuse me_ for trying to be a decent guy and deal with the shitty hand fate dealt me the way I see fit."

"_You_ got dealt a shitty hand?" Tempest said, almost raising her voice. "Look at you, you special little snowflake. I didn't realize you were the only dead person here! How did you die, anyway? Car accident? Drug overdose?"

"I- I was electrocuted."

"Oh, good for you! I was stabbed by my mother and left to bleed out on a hillside. Did I mention I was only seven when it happened? Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Tempest," Time Turner whispered, "Stop."

"No, it doesn't."

"Wow, you're learning!" She clasped her hands together, and then pointed to the door. "There's always someone worse off than you. Don't complain around them, especially when you've already pissed them off by being an annoying little shit."

"Oh, so I'm not allowed to be upset about something that's actually a big deal to me?" Infinite snapped, ignoring Time Turner's loud groan. "How much something sucks differs from person to person, y'know. Or maybe you don't. It must seem like such a foreign concept to someone who's _always_ right. I'm going to be upset about getting electrocuted, about getting stabbed, about what's going to happen, about my stupid powers that got me into this shit, and about having to deal with assholes like you!" He spun on his heel, yanked the door open, and slammed it as he left.

Tempest threw her peach across the room, "I fucking _hate_ that little piece of shit, pathetic little-"

"Yeah, good for you." Time Turner cut her off, ignoring Tempest's continued grumbling. "How exactly does someone get electrocuted and stabbed?"

"How should I know?!"

"Good point," Time Turner looked at the door, then back at Tempest. "…Nope, not letting it go. Come on," He stepped forward, holding out his hand. "We're going to go make friends with him, because I want to know what he meant."

"Not happening," Tempest tried to push her own curiosity away- she _really_ did want to know why she'd sensed Infinite. Though, she also wanted him to take a long walk off a short pier. That was over a volcano.

"Aren't you curious?"

"He probably just slipped up and said the wrong thing."

"But don't you want to confirm it?"

"Turner, seriously? Stop," She rolled her eyes. "It's stupid. It won't work."

He shrugged, "Doesn't mean I'm not going to try. With or without your help, I'm going to figure out exactly what he meant."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny had had a piece of glass in his hand.

"You won't need stitches," The paramedic who had just taken it out was saying, as he finished wrapping bandages around Danny's palm. "You're very lucky, Danny."

"Sure," He said, watching as it was bandaged. He caught Sam's eye in the crowd which had gathered around him and Andy- the paramedic- and quickly looked away. She probably wanted him to explain what had happened, but how could Danny do that? He didn't know himself. One minute he was yelling at Prince, the next, he was surrounded by broken glass.

_Stupid beaker tower._

The paramedic assumed he'd had a seizure, and Danny didn't bother to correct him. Epilepsy was a much better excuse than 'my ghost stalker's mad at me.'

"Danny!" Jazz's high pitched voice cut through the crowd, and she ran up beside the paramedic. "Danny, Tucker called me, I-"

"Why does he have your phone number?" Danny cut her off, forcing a smile. "That's creepy." He looked past her, "Where's Mom and Dad?"

Jazz didn't answer the question, instead turning to the paramedic. "He-"

"Ma'am," Andy cut her off, "I'm sorry, but I believe you were asked a question."

Danny pointed at him with his right, non-glass-stabbed hand. "I like you."

Jazz sighed, adjusting her headband. "They're… out. Getting groceries, I think."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "But we just got groceries yesterday."

"Okay," Andy said, breaking into the awkward conversation. "You can go, if you'd like." He helped Danny off of where he'd been sitting, "Try not to run into anymore glass, okay?"

"No promises," Danny said, trying to avoid putting weight on one of his ankles. He couldn't figure out why it hurt so much; Andy had said it was fine! Not even bruised!

"Come on," Jazz said, "I'll take you home." She held out her arm for him to lean against, and blushing a shade of red he didn't know was possible, Danny took it.

As Jazz brought him through the crowd and to her car, there was another person Danny saw; Mia Bynes, Sam's old friend. She gave him a look of obviously fake pity, blew him a kiss, and waved goodbye. Danny looked away just in time to miss Prince appear right in front of her, obviously startling the young woman before disappearing again. He missed Prince's limp, and he missed the word 'bitch' Prince had wrote across her forehead.

The fact he hadn't written it in English was irrelevant.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Most people loved Fridays. Stopwatch however, was not most people.

The ghost in front of him was pacing, which usually meant he was frustrated. Or straight up pissed. Neither of those ever meant anything good for Stopwatch, and he found himself cradling his hands in front of his death wound in a desperate attempt to keep it safe.

"Let me make this as clear as I can," He said, and Stopwatch tried very hard not to shiver at his tone. "I don't care about your pointless, petty feud with that idiot who claims to be Infinite Hour. I don't care what any of Clockwork's so called 'apprentices' have done recently." He was nearly growling now, "I care about whether him and his idiot girlfriend-" Stopwatch resisted the urge to correct that statement, "-Have come to their senses and done something _useful_ such as killing themselves yet!"

"N-no sir," Stopwatch whispered, "They aren't. Clockwork actually seems to be getting better in fact, he's-"

"Better?" Stopwatch cradled his hands closer to his chest, trying to protect his death wound in case the ghost's anger led to violence sooner than expected. "_Better?!_ You have a gift dropped in your fucking lap, a chance to kill Prince Phantom, and not only do you fuck it up you let Clockwork get _better_ from it?! You could've emotionally ruined him, but no! I should've known you'd fuck this up, just like you do to everything else. I should destroy you right here and now, maybe then something good will come from your ectoplasm!"

The words being shouted at him were nothing new, but they still came with a sting. Stopwatch wanted to bow his head in shame- where was the lie? He'd screwed up. He'd made a mistake. And now he would be punished.

The ghost snatched Stopwatch's wrist, pulling him forwards. "Look at me when I'm speaking to you. A baby would've been able to grasp the concept by now. I expected better from you, Kid."

Stopwatch hated the name. He hated his real name with every fiber of his being. He preferred Stopwatch; he'd preferred it since the second Hourglass had tried to guess his name and called him that instead. Naturally, he couldn't tell that to the ghost in front of him; to him, Stopwatch was Kid. An annoying and useless burden caused by the slip of a tongue.

"I'm sorry," Stopwatch muttered.

"For what?"

"For letting you down."

"Oh, that child did a lot more than fail." A new voice said slowly, and Stopwatch flinched. He couldn't bring himself to turn and look at the second ghost who had entered- they were an embodiment of every fear he had. "Make him turn towards me, would you? It's so rude to turn your back to someone when they're speaking."

Still pulling Stopwatch by his wrist, the first turned him so he was facing the second. They still didn't address him directly, however; they never did. "Here you go."

Stopwatch braced himself for the words he knew were coming next. The second ghost scoffed, and turned to the first in a way that almost reminded Stopwatch of Tardis. "Hurt him for me, would you dear?"

.-.-.-.-.-.

On Saturday morning, Danny felt like crap.

He'd checked the fridge at midnight, and the lack of any sort of new food confirmed that his parents had not been out shopping. Honestly, Danny really wasn't that surprised. The portal was up now, of course they'd be busy! They probably didn't even know he'd been hurt. Danny was tempted to run down into the lab, rip off his bandage, and scream "Look what I did last night!"

Danny frowned, trying to push away the embarrassment that thought caused him. Still lying in bed and wrapped up in blankets, Danny tried to convince himself to sit up before he wasted the entire Saturday in bed. The thought of moving, however, honestly seemed about as appealing as drowning himself in a toilet.

"Wakey-wakey," Prince's voice spooked Danny, and he quickly hid under the blankets. "Get up. I want food and your sister isn't making any."

"Go bug my parents then," Danny said from under his blanket mound.

"That's a horrible idea." The blankets were yanked away, and Danny glared at Prince as the ghost threw them aside. The ghost was holding his creepy, broken doll in his arms and it almost seemed to be staring at him. "Make me food, human."

"Make it yourself, ghost." Danny said, covering himself with a pillow. "I'm not your slave."

Prince seemed confused, "How do I make food?"

Danny made a motion with his hand, "With _magic._ And an oven."

"…Huh," Prince frowned, "Okay." He floated down through the floor, and Danny groaned as he rolled off the bed into the blanket pile.

"Well," He muttered, "I'm up now."

Danny moved from his blanket pile to the desk his computer was on, opening it up and logging in. The blue S of the Skype icon seemed to stand out against his background, and Danny hesitantly brought it up. Sam and Tucker had probably failed the project because of his stupid beaker thing, would they even want to talk to him? But he had to pay them back somehow, leaving everything like this just left a bad taste in Danny's mouth.

He brought up the chat Tucker had created for the three of them, trying to find the right words. Finally, he settled on _'any chance you guys would be up for pulling an all-nighter watching horror movies at my place tonight?'_

It was Sam who replied first; _'I'm in.'_

Tucker answered a moment later; _'Dude yes.'_

The trio organized a time they'd meet up, and Danny left his room to confirm their plan was allowed just as a fire alarm started going off. _Oh, they're in the lab. That makes it easy._

Danny could clearly smell smoke as he entered the kitchen, but honestly did not expect to see what had once been a box of Lucky Charms sitting on a burner, on _fire_, while Prince flattened himself against the opposite wall. The doll was still in his arms, and the way he was holding it it almost seemed to be reaching for the fire.

"What the heck did you do?!" Danny shouted over the alarm. _We don't even have any Lucky Charms!_

Prince hesitated a moment before calling back. "I don't think I used enough magic!"

* * *

Get it? Because they're _magically _delicious? Heh, heh…

Well _I_ think I'm funny.

So, hopefully you like the douche duo as much as LoveWritingStories and I do! They're some of my favourite characters. Kind of difficult to write but so much fun at the same time. I promise there'll be more Stopwatch in the next chapter. He's in like half of what we have written so far I can make those promises and actually keep them!

Any and all love for this story is really appreciated! If any reviews turn into flames however, it won't be Danny's hand which gets stabbed with a piece of glass next. I'm thinking something a little more bloody, you know? Like his neck.


	5. Mystery Meat

Welcome to Connections Chapter 4; the one which caused my beta reader to take fictional characters away from me and put them on a high shelf until I learned to treat them better. I borrowed someone's tall OC to get them down.

Skype and tumblr conversations are fun like that.

So, series rewrite! After taking an irrationally long time to get this far, I'd better explain it. This isn't just regurgitating the episodes, shoving Prince in, and adding a couple Time Apprentice scenes. Though you'll see a lot of lines taken from the original episodes, the scenes go past that. There's more added, and they're more like the characters these circumstances have created. Basically, this episode is like Mystery Meat Delux.

…Chapter. Episode Chapter. Epichapter.

They're called Epichapters now.

Well I hope that made sense, because I am currently half asleep and I don't know how to feel about my word vomit. Oh well. This chapter has plenty of plot, and plenty of Stopwatch!

**Chapter Warning;** Swearing, Stopwatch doesn't understand what misgendering is, and Dash is a douche to pansexuals.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 4;**

"You know Sam," Tucker said, his mouth full of popcorn, "I can't believe your parents let you come. A sleepover with two boys seems like the kind of thing they'd be against."

"Well," She shrugged, looking over at Danny. "My grandma said it was okay, and what my parents don't know won't hurt them."

Danny raised an eyebrow before shrugging and looking back to the TV in front of him. "So which one do you guys want to watch?"

"One of the Saw movies?" Tucker asked.

"How about not?" Sam replied as she took a handful of the popcorn. "Something actually scary, like the first Paranormal Activity, or The Ring?"

Danny frowned, looking over at Sam. "Why would we watch a ghost movie when I've been pretty much living in one for the last month?"

"...Good point." She answered.

"Um... So Saw?" Tucker asked, obviously trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen over the room.

"...Sure," Danny said, using the remote to type the movie's name into the search bar. Honestly, he wasn't fond of slasher films. Too much gore and not enough actual horror. But this was his house, he was the one who'd suggested the three of them have a sleepover there, he might as well be a good host and let Tucker pick their first movie. "You can pick the next one, Sam. Then it'll be my turn, is that good with everyone?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure, whatever. We can watch your stupid man movie."

Danny ignored her, reaching over with his right hand for some popcorn. He ignored the tingling cold which had set over it, until he heard Tucker gasp and noticed Sam leaning away from him. "...What?"

"D-dude," Tucker stuttered.

"Your arm!" Sam finished.

"What about-" Danny started, staring down at his right arm. Or at least, where it should be- there was nothing there but his sleeve, and the faintest outline which _could_ be an arm if Danny squinted. "What the- frick!" He shouted, jumping to his feet. "Where the heck is my arm?!"

"You tell me!" Tucker screamed, also jumping to his feet. "Don't tell me there's blood. Should we call an ambulance?!"

"What do we do?!" Danny shouted, attempting to hit his missing arm with his left hand. Aside from where his arm should be being a little colder than the rest of the room, there was no hint it'd ever been there. "I want my arm back!"

"I don't know!" Sam shouted in reply. "Where's your family?! Maybe they can help!" The panic was only intensified by the sounds of death emulating for the TV.

"Uh- downstairs!" Danny shouted back, motioning with his existing arm. "My dad's downstairs but my mom and Jazz are out... I don't know if my dad can help!"

"Well we can always ask!" Tucker screamed frantically. "Dude your arm is gone we have to do _something_!"

"But..." Danny breathing was a lot more shallow than it had been a few moments ago, "What do we tell him? What do we _do?!_"

Sam walked over towards him. "Okay guys. Let's take a deep breath okay? We can figure this out..."

"What is there to figure out?! Where it went?!" Danny snapped, grabbing onto his shoulder. Thankfully, that was still in existence. And then, as quickly as it had came, the tingling cold feeling was gone, replaced with warmth and... _It feels like my arm._ Hesitantly, Danny raised his arm and stared at it. It looked like his arm, and had the same faded scars as his arm, and- as poking it confirmed- felt like his arm did. "Um..."

Sam's eyes widened. "What the actual fuck just happened?"

Tucker responded. "I don't know. But you're being stalked by a ghost, so let's go ask the pretend expert on them." With that he grabbed Danny and Sam by the wrists and dragged them towards the lab.

"_Tucker,_" Danny protested as his friend knocked the basement door open with his foot, "Just- it's back now, can't we just leave it? Can't we just leave this alone, we don't have to go in there!"

"Oh yes we do," Sam replied, shaking Tucker's grip off her wrist and taking hold of Danny's other one.

"Guys, please!" Danny was nearly begging now as they dragged him down the stairs. "Guys, seriously, we don't-" He stopped, catching sight of the large figure in the orange jumpsuit turning towards him. "Hi... Dad..."

"Danny," Jack replied, pushing whatever he'd been working with off to the side. "What are you kids doing down here?" He moved between them and the portal.

Before anybody could say anything, Sam spoke. "Um... Mr. Fenton. I was wondering what it could be if somebody's arm, say, disappeared? In a paranormal type circumstance. We saw it in a horror movie."

"Oh, that'd be ghosts!" He was smiling now, and Danny barely held in a groan. _Why'd you give him a chance to ramble?_ "Come on kids, sit down, I'll tell you what you need to do!" He pulled out three folding chairs and set them up, motioning to the chairs and then to the teens. When nobody moved, Jack stepped behind them and nearly pushed the three into chairs. "So, Danny. You and your little friends want to hunt ghosts."

_Somebody shoot me. _"Uh, actually Dad?" He hesitantly raised a hand, "I want to be an astronaut."

"Sorry, Mr. Fenton. I was into ghosts, but they're so mainstream now. They're like cellphones," Sam said, fiddling with her phone. _Where did she pull that from when she has no- actually, no, I don't want to know._

"Waste these looks and all this charisma hunting ghosts? Criminal," Tucker added on.

"Well if you do want to learn to hunt ghosts," Jack started, turning to a table full of assorted equipment, "There's a few things you need to learn." _Again, please shoot me._

Danny sighed, shooting a glare at his friends. He was about to make an excuse so that they could head back upstairs when his breath came out in a faintly blue fog. Danny turned back, looking at the open portal. "Uh-oh, this isn't good." _Prince, what are you doing? ...Where are you, you stupid ghost..._

And then from the portal, what almost appeared to be two faintly translucent green, flying octopuses with eyebrows appeared. Danny's jaw fell open as Sam and Tucker turned to look back at what Danny had seen, only to have the creatures wrap their tentacles around his friends and pull them towards them.

_...What. The. Heck._

"True, I've never seen a ghost, but when I do, I'll be prepared!" Jack rambled as Danny jumped to his feet. Remembering Lewis' whistle, he quickly blew it, causing the creatures to retreat closer to the portal. "And so will you, whether you want to be or not!"

There was a soft tapping on Danny's shoulder, and he looked over to see a very obviously annoyed Prince standing beside him. Silently and frantically, Danny motioned to the creatures.

"Ectopuses," Prince mumbled, so quietly that Danny almost didn't hear. A smile appeared on the ghost's face, and he took a step forwards. "Too easy."

Danny let him go, awkwardly standing in place as Prince suddenly grabbed onto the apparently named ectopuses' tentacles, floating up and smacking away the other ones which tried to grab him. The ghost pulled on the ectopuses, knocking them into each other.

"It all starts with your equipment," Jack continued, unaware of what was going on behind him. Prince's latest attempt at knocking the ectopuses together managed to dislodge Sam and Tucker, who were conveniently thrown back into their own chairs. The ectopuses seemed to decide to take Prince on a ride after that, as they wrapped themselves around his wrists and dragged him over to the side just as Jack turned back and handed a thermos to Sam. "Sam, Tucker, this is the Fenton Thermos." He either completely ignored or didn't notice his son rushing off to untangle Prince from the ectopuses. In fact, he turned back to the table just as the two accidentally managed to form together, confusing the ectopuses as their hostage was now in the body of the random human who'd been attempting to pull him out.

"_Um... Okay."_ Prince seemed to be saying, though Danny couldn't detect his mouth moving. _"That didn't work."_

_No, really?_

"_Shut up, you stupid human."_

_...Did you just read my thoughts?_

"_...That would explain why your mouth didn't move..."_

_Neither did yours._

"_...Oh. Shi- Danny make us duck!"_

Danny did, just in time to miss a tentacle coming at his head. Prince took control of the body after that, grabbing onto the ectopuses and throwing them into the opposite wall. "_Sweet. Extra strength._"

"-Thermos is supposed to trap ghosts," Danny heard his dad say, and a twinge of hope rose up as Prince made them punch one ectopus in the face. Their first was nearly absorbed, and with a quiet disgusted sound from both the human and the ghost Danny took control to pull the fist away. "But since it doesn't work it's just a thermos. A thermos with the word 'Fenton' on it!" The twinge of hope vanished as the group of ghosts barely managed to avoid being spotted by Jack. The ectopuses gave up their hold on Danny and Prince, rushing back into the portal. The two separated, not taking a moment to relax in their victory before Danny sprinted over to his chair and Prince dived under a table.

"Why did we think this was a good idea?" Danny whispered, panting and leaning on his chair for support. _Why did I run...?_ "Oh, wait. That was you two."

"And that?" Jack continued, pressing a button on the control panel beside the portal. Yellow and black striped doors slid to cover it, which Danny stared at in confusing. "That is the Fenton Portal! Though, I guess you three knew that... It releases ghosts into our world whether I want it to or not!" _It what?! Those were- what?! Okay, that would've been good to know before!_ He tapped it, smiling fondly. "And some day, I'll figure out how that works too." _But you built the stupid thing._ He made his way back to the front of Danny, Sam, and Tucker. "Now, who wants to hunt some ghosts?"

Nobody replied. Nobody knew how to, and Danny didn't have the breath to do so in the first place.

"You kids, look at cha! You're too excited to speak!" Jack laughed, completely missing the truth of the situation. "So I'll just go on speaking. I was born many years ago in a cabin in the woods," _Dad, please don't. _"I don't remember where, but I do remember that I wanted a pony." Danny turned his head, making sure that Sam and Tucker were uninjured, then turned slightly to check on Prince. Satisfied with his findings, Danny bent over and tried to regain his breath. _I need to be more active. ...Nah._ "Never got the pony. As a matter of fact we had to eat horsemeat during the war... Had a problem with that..."

_Dad, shut up. Please._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch hissed in pain, attempting to pull his wrist away from Hourglass. "You're wrapping it wrong! Stop it!"

She let the bandages fall, holding up her hands in surrender. "Sorry! But it's sprained, I think, I can't just..." She stopped, pulling her hood up. "I'm sorry."

_I am too. _"Well, you tried. That's good enough for me." He pulled at the loosely half-wrapped bandages around his wrist, sighing but still offering Hourglass a half smile. _Why did I tell her- ah, ow, ow..._ "Where's... Time Turner? He's a doctor or something, can't he help?"

"Um, well, he's... busy." Hourglass licked her lips, pulling on her braid. It looked different than it had the past few days. It was nice. "Sorry."

Stopwatch raised his eyebrows, "Busy with what? Tempest? I thought she was gay."

Hourglass blinked twice, "Wait, what? Why- what? Why would you- never mind. Do you want me to go, uh, see if he'll come now?"

"Sure, see if he's done seducing the weird lesbian."

Hourglass sighed, standing up. "Stopwatch... no. Stop, please?"

"Oh. Okay," He looked away, rubbing his injured wrist. _What did I say? I hope she's not mad at me..._

There was the sound of something squeaking, and Stopwatch looked over his shoulder as Infinite opened the door. He hesitated, frowning at the door as he pushed it in some more. "Does _every _door in this building squeak?"

"Infinite!" Hourglass jumped to her feet, ignoring Stopwatch as he let out an annoyed huff. "I didn't, oh..." She trailed off, pulling her hood further down. "Did you need something?"

Infinite ignored her, instead glancing down at Stopwatch. "What happened to your wrist?"

His question didn't quite register with Stopwatch, not at first. "Wha- I... tripped. Over a watermelon."

Infinite raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" He said, "Bullshit. What really happened?"

Hourglass gave Infinite a confused look and Stopwatch froze. Nobody asked how he was hurt, nobody asked why... nobody did! Nobody ever had! Hourglass because she didn't really ask questions, and everyone else because... well, they had their reasons. Probably. It wasn't that they didn't care, they just... had something else they needed to do first.

_Let's go with that._

"Um, Infinite?" Hourglass spoke up, "Why are you... sorry. Just- yeah."

The taller ghost hesitated a second before replying. "Oh, right! Tardis is in the kitchen and she wants your help with something."

"Oh, uh, okay." She nodded, looking down at Stopwatch before rushing past Infinite and into the hallway.

Stopwatch attempted- and failed- to raise an eyebrow as Infinite closed the door. "Hourglass really hates cooking, you know. And Tardis hates having anyone trying to help her when she's making food."

"Really? You'd think she'd be able to see through my horrible lie then." He shrugged, moving to Stopwatch's side and dropping to his knees. "Can I see?"

"See what?" Stopwatch said, scooting away from Infinite. "Mind your own damn business!"

Infinite frowned, sighing after a short hesitation. "Look, I get that you don't like me. I'm okay with that- _I _don't like me half the time. And I'll admit, I find ghost biology incredibly confusing and can't really function around anyone who's doing anything remotely similar to bleeding. But I'm not going to leave someone who's hurt alone, especially when I know I can help them. I know how to wrap sprained wrists. Trust me, I do and I can do it pretty well. I actually took a class once, couple months ago. I can help you. Let me help you. _Please._"

Stopwatch blinked twice. "That was the stupidest monologue I have ever heard."

Infinite shrugged, "Eh, the talent is a work in progress. Anyway, can I see your wrist? Please?"

"You're not going to leave until I say yes, are you?"

Infinite nodded, "Yeah, basically."

"Ugh, fine!" Stopwatch groaned, and Infinite's face lit up. "Just don't- _ah!_" He cut off into a cry of pain as Infinite pulled on his wrist, quickly unraveling the bandage and throwing it aside. "Hey!"

"Sorry!" He didn't look sorry. "Oh, yeah, that's a really bad sprain. You said you fell on it?"

"And you said that was bullshit."

"Because it was." Infinite shrugged, "I'm taking a body language class. So spill; what happened?"

"Nothing," Stopwatch muttered, pushing the incident from his mind. If he'd just been faster moving out of the way, if he'd actually been able to avoid being grabbed like he was supposed to be able to do... _thinking is the exact opposite of what I was trying to do._ "It doesn't matter."

"So? Tell me anyway," Infinite hesitated before starting to re-wrap the bandage. "...Or, you know, don't. I'm just making conversation here. So what's your favorite colour?"

Stopwatch raised his eyebrows, "Uh, blue?"

"Cool. I used to really like green, but stuff happened and now..." He rubbed the back of his neck, "Violet, like my girlfriend's eyes."

Stopwatch almost laughed, "You have a _girlfriend?_" _Who would ever date you?_

"Yeah!" And his stupid grin was back. "Her name is Sam, and she is _amazing._ She-" He stopped as Stopwatch yawned, "Are you tired or something?"

"Bored mostly," Stopwatch replied, and Infinite raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that's not fair. How can you do the thing?!"

Infinite frowned, raising his eyebrow higher. "What thing?"

Stopwatch motioned to the other ghost's face, letting out a loud annoyed sound. "The eyebrow thing! I've been trying to do that for years!"

"Oh!" Infinite lowered his eyebrows, "I think it's genetic. Maybe. I should google that, give me a second." He pulled out a phone from one of his pockets, and tapped the screen a few times. "Or not, the battery is dead. The one day I don't bring my charger and it dies. What does Apple have against me?" He shoved the phone back in his pocket, one hand moving to the back of his neck. "Sorry, where were we?"

Rolling his eyes, Stopwatch raised his injured wrist and pointed to it.

"...Oh. Right," Laughing nervously, Infinite began wrapping the bandage again. "So, this is going to be really abrupt, but I'm going to pop if I don't ask someone."

"I'd rather you didn't ask then," Stopwatch said, finding himself smiling.

"Hey, don't look so smug; if I pop, you're explaining to Clockwork why my guts are all over the floor."

"I don't think he'll care."

"...Anyway," Infinite hesitated, "Exactly why are you all here? Like, you, Hourglass, Time Turner, Tempest, those shapeshifters who apparently took over the common room... why does Clockwork have apprentices?"

_Shit._ "Uh... I don't know."

"Yeah, you lied there." Infinite pulled at the bandage, "I don't even have to look at you to know that. Is it a really sensitive topic or something?"

"It's not just that, it's..." Stopwatch trailed off. He had to choose his words carefully; Infinite wasn't stupid. Well, not that stupid. If Stopwatch said the wrong thing, he could incriminate him _and_ Hourglass. Infinite was close with Tardis; he would tell her. He needed to be careful not to say anything which could possibly make anyone suspicious. "It's just that, well, none of us really like to talk about it. Blacklist and all that."

"Ah yes, the book of stuff not to mention which Clockwork and Tardis throw at each other. Good times, good times." Infinite said, looking up from Stopwatch's wrist. "So just give me the gist of it then. Who am I going to tell?"

_Hourglass' not-mommy of murder?_ Though he was tempted to, Stopwatch didn't reply verbally and just shrugged.

"...Tempest told me you would probably know," Infinite continued, "You or Hourglass."

"She _what?!_" _She knows? Shit, what else does she know? I am so fucked._

"Whoa, hey, relax!" Infinite held up his hands in a sign of surrender, "She said it was because you two have been here the longest. Or something. I was only half listening; Time Turner was making an elephant out of an orange peel and it was really cool."

"He was?" Stopwatch smiled, thankful for the change of topic. "When was this?"

"Not that long ago, a few minutes maybe. When did I come up here?" Stopwatch's smile was gone, "Well, whatever, it's wrapped. Are you okay?"

"Fine," Stopwatch said, "I, uh, thank you. You can go now."

Infinite frowned, "Did I say something wrong? I'm really sorry if I did. I'm shit at being socially conscious. Like the monologues, it's a work in progress."

"Socially what?" Stopwatch held up his good hand to stop Infinite before the taller ghost could explain. "I actually don't care."

"If you're sure..." Infinite lifted a hand, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm just... I'm just gonna go. It was nice talking to you?"

"Yeah, sure." _I still want to punch you in the face._

"Yeah... I'll go, then." Infinite forced a smile, "Uh, see ya. I'll go get your girlfriend- uh, wait, no. I'm not saying that about a thirteen-year-old. It just feels wrong. I'm going to leave before I make this even more awkward." Infinite rushed out of the room, closing the door behind him. Stopwatch stared at the door for a second before looking down at his wrist.

_Busy, huh?_

.-.-.-.-.-.

On Monday morning, two days after the adventure with his invisible arm, Danny found himself pretending that his cereal was the most interesting thing in the world. For once his parents were out of the lab, working on something at the kitchen table with a blowtorch. Jazz was reading a book instead of eating, and Danny could swear that Prince floated behind her making confused sounds. Danny wasn't sure why he thought that; it wasn't like he could see the ghost. It was just a feeling. _And probably more proof that I've officially gone crazy._

Danny lifted his spoon to take another bite of cereal, only to bite down on nothing as a cold feeling spread through his arm. _Wait. _He looked over, bracing himself for what he would see. Or rather, wouldn't see.

Danny's entire left forearm was invisible, and didn't seem to be solid either. Danny swallowed the fearful sound which rose up in his throat before dropping the remains of his arm out of view.

"Okay, two more days and its done!" Maddie said excitedly as she moved the blow torch away from a strange, square, device.

Jack, who obviously hadn't been paying attention, put down the toast he had been eating. "What did you say?" A large smile appeared across his face as he picked up the invention. "It's done?! The Fenton Finder is done!" _Oh my god, that's such a dumb name._ "This baby uses satellites to lead you right to the ghosts!"

Danny swallowed nervously, trying to bring back his missing arm. "It uses _what_ to track _what?_"

A cold hand touched his shoulder, and Danny nearly jumped out of his chair. "I'm not here," Prince whispered, "Hide me."

"Hide yourself, you stupid ghost," Danny muttered back, and Prince quietly huffed.

"Rude."

Suddenly, beeping noises could be heard. An electronic female voice came out of a speaker on the Fenton Finder. "Welcome to the Fenton Finder. A ghost is near."

"Like I said," Prince whispered again, "I'm not here. Keep your creepy parents away from me or else."

"Walk forward," the machine said. The adults complied, moving towards their son and his ghost. Danny felt Prince haul him to his feet, and began acting as an unwitting human shield for the slightly taller boy. Danny found himself bumping into the wall, yet he would still feel the ghost's cold hands on his shoulders. _Stupid dead people going through things. _"Ghost located. Thank you for using the Fenton Finder."

Moving both his hands to the back of his neck, Danny gave his parents a weak smile. _Oh, hey, my arm's back. That's useful. Now I have two hands to strangle the dead guy with._

A flash of confusion and anger crossed Jack's face. "What?" he made an unpleasant sound. "This can't be right!"

Danny felt the unfortunately familiar cold and tingly feeling take over his entire body, and when he looked down there were a few seconds where he didn't have one. _I think I'm gonna be sick..._

"Sorry," Prince muttered, "That was my fault."

_I hate you._ "Uh, actually..." Danny slouched, glancing at his shoulder where he was sure Prince's hand was. "I didn't- there's something I should tell you guys..."

"Don't you fucking _dare,_" Prince hissed, "Order or not, I will shock you."

"That's not all you need Danny," Jazz stated, drawing everybody's attention. "You need guidance!" Stepping in front of her mom and dad she added, "And parents who can provide it."

"Sweetie," Maddie began, "I know what we do doesn't make sense sometimes, but you're only-"

"Sixteen, biologically," Jazz cut her off. "But _psychologically_ I'm an adult! And I will not allow your insane obsession with ghosts-" She pulled Danny, who had been trying to sneak away, close to her, "-to pollute the mind of this impressionable little child!"

"Jazz," Danny said, noticing that Prince had let go of his shoulder. "I'm _fourteen!_ I'm not a little kid!"

Ignoring her brother's comment, Jazz continued her rant. "Come, you abused, unwanted wretch," she hugged him tightly, "I'll drive you to school."

"_Jazz,_" Danny groaned again, stumbling along as his sister pushed him towards the door. He didn't fully resist though, and stooped down to pick up his backpack right before Jazz shoved them both outside.

Just as the door closed, there was the sound of Jack yelling something followed by a loud _smack!_

Danny raised an eyebrow, slipping from his sister's grip with perhaps more than a little of Prince's powers. "Did Dad just smack into the door?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Jazz spoke. "I wouldn't doubt it," she said flatly.

"...Our family is weird." Danny sighed, "So, uh, I'll just go to my bus stop then."

"Uh, no you're not," the older girl deadpanned. "I said I was going to drive you. So I'm going to drive you. Now get in the car," she motioned towards her pink car parked next to the house.

"Jazz, no," Danny whined, "I don't want to go to school in that!"

"But you'd rather go to school in _that_," she pointed to an elementary school bus.

"At least it's not pink! Besides, Tucker takes the bus too."

"Since when?" was the simple reply. "His mom drives him every morning. He takes it home."

"...Okay one, that's weird." Danny held up the fingers to mirror the number he mentioned. "Two, how do you know my best friend's bus schedule?"

"His mom parks next to me every morning while dropping him off," Jazz answered, "I also used to babysit you both, it's become a habit to know what you're both doing."

"It's still creepy," Danny muttered, but reluctantly sat down in the passenger seat of Jazz's car. No sooner had he slammed the door did he notice an unfortunately familiar boy sitting in the backseat. "...Prince, get out of my sister's car."

"Why? I like it!" He smiled, "It's really pretty."

Danny turned around, glaring at the ghost. "That doesn't give you any right to be in her-" he cut himself off as Jazz opened her door, turning back around and putting his seatbelt in.

"Ready to go?" the redhead asked as she put on her own seat belt.

"Uh, yeah!" Danny said, using more false enthusiasm than was necessary. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed that Prince had thankfully turned invisible. "Sure! Now for more fun at that... _wonderful_ place that makes people hate themselves."

"Danny," Jazz began and she took to the street. "You know that's not true. People don't hate themselves because of school, it's self esteem. Only you can fix your own self esteem. Try having a more optimistic outlook on life! Besides, if you need somebody to talk to, I'm always here to listen."

"She has a lot of good advice, you know." Prince spoke up, right next to Danny's ear. "You should listen to some of it."

"Oh, my god," Danny groaned, leaning forwards. "Shut up!"

Jazz fell silent, not knowing that Danny was not talking to her. "I was just trying to help..." she said, trailing off.

_I was talking to the ghost behind me... _"I- sorry." Danny whispered, hugging his backpack close to himself. "That... yeah, sorry."

She sighed, "It's alright Danny. I know you've been through a lot." She was quiet for a moment. "You know, Thursday will have marked one month since..."

"Since what?" Danny asked, and then it clicked with him. This Thursday would be April third, one month since the accident. "...Oh."

"Yeah..."

"...Huh. That's... yeah."

An awkward silence fell over the siblings as they drove.

.-.-.-.-.-.

When the lunch bell rang, Danny was honestly surprised that Sam joined him and Tucker. Though she'd become a really good friend after the accident, Danny was still surprised when she chose to spend time with them instead of her other friends. They obviously were too- one of them, Mia, seemed to be glaring at Danny every time he saw her.

Danny made sure the three of them were away from the crowds before taking a deep breath in, "I... I think I should tell my parents about Prince."

"Why?" Sam asked in what sounded almost like disgust, "Parents don't listen. And even worse they don't understand!" She was silent for half a second as her anger seemed to boil, "Why can't they accept me for who I am?!" She screamed.

Danny rolled his eyes, "Sam, I'm talking about my sudden powers? My ghost stalker? _My _problems?"

Her cheeks flushed red. "Oh. Right. Me too."

Danny glanced at Tucker before continuing. "It's been almost a month since the accident, and not only do I still have no clue how to get rid of him, now he's making me disappear randomly and stuff! If somebody catches me I'll go from geek to freak around here!" He crossed his arms, oblivious to the fact that he appeared to be shrinking.

Tucker raised an eyebrow, "Kind of like you're doing right now?"

Glancing down, Danny noticed that his lower half had began to sink into the floor. Sam and Tucker pulled him back up as he yelped, holding Danny in place until his legs reformed.

"Gah, darn it!" Danny said as his now solid feet touched the ground before he started walking forwards. "If my dad can invent something that make me steal the powers of my ghost stalker, why can't he invent something that turns me back to normal?" Danny closed his eyes and sighed, not noticing as he walked through a vending machine before turning back to normal.

"Danny," Sam tried reassuring him, "Your powers make you unique. Unique is good." She smiled widely, "And that's why I'm an Ultra Recyclo-Vegetarian."

"Which means what, again?" Tucker asked, sounding bored.

"She doesn't eat anything a face on it." Danny elaborated for Sam, recalling what he'd learned during the science fair.

"Ah, who cares about that stuff?" Tucker said, "Danny, two words; meat connoisseur." He lifted his nose into the air and sniffed. "Last night, you had sloppy joes."

Danny nodded, "Impressive." _Yet also extremely weird. Oh well._

Tucker shrugged. "Meat heightens the senses. My all-meat streak is fourteen years long."

A wicked smile curled across Sam's lips. "And it's about to end. The school board finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu. I wore them down."

"Wait," Fear began to show in Tucker's voice. "What did you do?"

The girl laughed, "I pulled some strings for the greater good of humanity."

"Uh, okay," Danny broke in, sensing an argument brewing. "We should go get lunch. Did anyone bag it?"

Both Sam and Tucker said "No," in unison.

"...Okay. Let's go eat then?" Nodding met his question, though Sam looked a bit smug. Upon reaching the cafeteria, Danny discovered why; banners everywhere read 'Ultra-recyclo-vegetarian week' and his lunch _did not_ look like food.

"What is this," Danny asked, looking over at Sam and Tucker, "Grass on a bun?"

Sam smirked, looking very proud with herself. Tucker on the other hand looked like he was about to stab her with a fork. "What the hell have you done?! You really need to stop pushing your damn opinions onto others! Especially when you're only doing this shit to be a special snowflake!"

Sam didn't respond for a moment. "You don't understand Tucker! I'm not a 'special snowflake'! I'm not like all those other girls! Those pretty, skinny, makeup coated, plastic bitches."

Danny elbowed Tucker, pushing him towards their usual table. "No, seriously guys," He started towards it, making sure Tucker and Sam were at his side, "Is lunch grass on a bun?"

They both ignored him, Sam once again looking pleased with herself, "Face it Tucker, its time for a change."

Danny ignored the rest of their argument in favor of sitting down at the table. Tucker sat at his side, and Sam across the table from them. Danny caught sight of a brown haired girl- one of Sam's friends, Mia again- glaring at him from across the cafeteria. Danny raised an eyebrow as she looked away, leaning over to whisper something to her friend. _Just what I need, more rumours._ Sighing, Danny jabbed his grass-on-a-bun with a plastic spoon and brought it up to his face. "Uh, don't you think this is a little extreme, Sam?"

Mr. Lancer walked across the crowded room to where the three were sitting, "Ah Ms. Manson," he said with a slight sneer in his voice. "The school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering this welcome experiment to our cafeteria."

Danny jabbed his 'lunch'- though he wasn't sure if it could even be considered that-, tuning out Lancer's praise of Sam's idea. He liked Sam, he really did, but this was stupid. He liked his normal food, not this... thing. _Maybe I can pawn it off to Prince._ Danny lifted a hand, grabbing onto the whistle around his neck. He'd been wearing it every day since Lewis had given it to him, and Danny had to admit that the thing was very useful. It controlled Prince, stopping him from doing anything which would get Danny in trouble, and the ghost would always show up at his side when Danny blew it. It was great. Somewhere in the back of his mind though, Danny couldn't help but wonder where Lewis had gotten it.

Lancer left, and Sam and Tucker were arguing over something again. Danny pulled the whistle out from under his shirt, bringing it up to his mouth. A steady stream of cold air escaped his lungs, and Danny dropped the whistle. "Guys," He swallowed, the cold air still coming out in a steady stream. "I have a problem."

Something wet and semi-solid hit Danny in the back of the head, dripping down onto the back on his neck. Danny gagged as he tapped it with a hand, the squishy feeling and brown colour thoroughly disgusting him.

"_FENTON!"_

Danny shuddered at the sound of Dash's voice, biting his lip to steady himself before turning around. "Make that two problems."

.-.-.-.-.-.

For some reason, Tempest and Time Turner were in the kitchen. Stopwatch didn't know why, the tower certainly had enough spare rooms that if they wanted to be alone they could.

Some sort of foam was shooting from a pop bottle when Stopwatch opened the door, crashing down on the the table. Infinite whooped, holding up his hands for high fives. "I love science!"

Time Turner rolled his eyes, but smiled as he gave Infinite a high five. Tempest was less amused, pushing Infinite's hand down. "Please know that I am not cleaning that up."

"Don't worry, I'll do it- Stopwatch!" Infinite brightened up when he noticed the ghost in the doorway. Time Turner did the opposite, and Tempest simply crossed her arms. "You missed the science!"

Stopwatch nearly screamed in frustration. Of course. _Of course_ Infinite would be hanging out with the other Elites. He'd waited for a day so that Tardis, Hourglass, and Clockwork would be busy. But of course, Infinite just had to be there doing... science. _I can still do this. He's not important, I just need to focus on Time Turner._ "Good," He said, eyeing the pop bottle as he slowly entered the room. "That looks horrifying."

"It's Mentos and diet coke!" Infinite answered the question he hadn't asked. "You put the together and-" He made an explosive motion with his hands. "These guys have never seen it. Please tell me you have."

Stopwatch shrugged, making his way to Time Turner's side. "I'm not a fan of that stuff." He was lying; it actually looked pretty cool. Pushing the pit which was growing in the pit of his stomach away, Stopwatch leaned over and put his arm on Time Turner's shoulder. "How are you?"

Time Turner shrugged his shoulder, trying to get Stopwatch's elbow off of him. It didn't work. "Uh, annoyed?"

"Hey, you little shit," Tempest said, narrowing her eyes. Infinite took a step back, laughing nervously as he got out of the way. "Get your arm off of him before I cut it off."

"How would you do that?" Stopwatch said, grabbing Time Turner's arm with other hand. He wasn't scared of Tempest; sure, she had a few fancy tricks up her sleeve- she'd made herself appear taller on more than one occasion, like when she'd first met Infinite- but all around Tempest couldn't fight. She relied on intimidation tactics and catching whoever she was upset with off guard, which she wasn't too bad at for a 5'2 chubby Chinese girl. But Stopwatch was still better- he could actually use his Timey Power, and while Tempest was a Time Manipulator she had never once frozen time.

"Stopwatch," Infinite said softly as Time Turner pulled against him again. Though Stopwatch was physically younger, he was definitely stronger. "Leave him alone."

"Yeah," Time Turner said, and Stopwatch moved his hand. "Thank you-"

"Having muscular men fight your battles for you?" Stopwatch cut him off, preparing reality manipulation. _Just sight, simple enough._ "I thought you rejected anything remotely feminine!"

"Leave him alone," Tempest said, taking a step forward. "Stopwatch, I swear to the powers above, you-"

Stopwatch ignored her, "Or maybe you're finally embracing it! In that case, let me help you along." He made a motion with his free hand, letting go of Time Turner's arm with the other. Time Turner hated being called a girl or anything like that, so the perfect punishment for how Time Turner had ignored his position as their medic and chosen spending time with Infinite over helping Stopwatch. At least, that's what Stopwatch thought.

Tempest stopped where she stood, staring at Time Turner who seemed to be trying to find something under his clothes. "Tyler?" She said calmly, using Time Turner's human name. "You're being reality manipulated. Whatever he's showing you isn't real."

Time Turner looked visibly uncomfortable as he ignored Tempest, running a hand over his chest. Stopwatch smirked, making sure to to keep the illusion up. Time Turner would be thoroughly convinced he had breasts, and Stopwatch couldn't help but start laughing. The look on Time Turner's face was hilarious, Tempest didn't seem to know what to do, and Infinite was staring at him.

"Okay," He took a few steps forwards and held out a hand. "That's it." He pulled his hand back, and Stopwatch recognized the attack formation instantly. One arm protected his chest and death wound, and the other pushed Infinite's hand away to stop his assault before it could hit him. Still protecting his death wound, Stopwatch kicked Infinite's legs out from under him and pulled his arm back so he wouldn't go crashing down with his opponent.

However, Infinite didn't go down. He turned his legs into a spectral tail right as Stopwatch's foot hit his ankle. Infinite flipped up and over his head, and Stopwatch felt a tug on the hood of his sweater. Infinite all but threw him back, and Stopwatch crashed into a chair. He fell to the ground, and Infinite turned his tail back into legs.

"Don't move, or you'll regret it."

"What are you going to do? Some other fancy trick that'll hit my death wound? I've had worse," Stopwatch stood up, glaring at Time Turner. He was calmer now that Infinite had screwed up the reality manipulation, and Tempest had a hand on his arm. She was also acting as a barrier between him and Time Turner. "Not that _you_ would know anything about that."

"And I'm horrible at dying, what's your point?" Infinite stepped back, looking at the other two. "Hey, you okay?"

Tempest answered for Time Turner. "As much as he can be. Rip him apart."

Infinite shook his head, "I'm not going to do that."

"I would."

"Well, I'm not you and I don't punch people in the face because Observants yelled at me." A pause, "We're just going to pretend I didn't say that last bit."

Tempest raised her eyebrows, "No we're not."

Infinite pointed at her, "Yes we are." He moved his arm, finger right in Stopwatch's face this time. Stopwatch batted his hand away, glaring up at Infinite. "You sir," Infinite said, "Are an asshole."

"Yes I am," Stopwatch replied, stepping closer to Tempest. She glared at him. "What's your point?"

Infinite took a breath, and Stopwatch stared intently past him at the fridge. Someone had written _Look at me you little fucks I'm so great I'm writing words - T_ in Ancient Ghost with fridge magnets. Underneath it, in Modern Ghost, was _Why do we have fridge magnets? - CW._ Just below that, in English, was _Never let me anywhere near money the sets were $1 each and I had $70 in my pocket - Infinite._

Again in English, just beside that was _Use only the first letter of your name you uncultured swine._ It wasn't signed.

"If you're done staring past me," Infinite said, crossing his arms. "My point is that you-"

Stopwatch cut him off, "I really, _really_ don't care." _I need to get out of this, and I need to do it now. _"But I do really appreciate how much you care about everyone! You're such a nice guy. You deserve a reward." _Five senses. Okay, I can do this. I can do this._ Waving his hands, Stopwatch reality manipulated a small bag of popcorn into them. "Here, have some popcorn."

Infinite opened his mouth, then closed it. One eyebrow raised, he pointed at the popcorn, then at himself, then back at the popcorn. The silence was getting increasingly awkward when Infinite finally reached out and grabbed the popcorn bag from his hands. Stopwatch couldn't see it anymore, and it looked like Infinite had suddenly taken up a job as a mime. He ate some of the non-existent popcorn, smiling to himself. "Mmm," He muttered, "Popcorn."

Stopwatch nearly broke down laughing as Time Turner smacked a palm to his face, completely missing the obviously upset face behind it. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

Tempest clasped her hands behind her back. "Nobody tell him. Turner, come with me." With one last glare in Stopwatch's general direction, she and Time Turner left. They didn't completely close the door behind them.

"Well, this has been fun," Stopwatch said, stepping back. "Unfortunately, I have... uh, memes to quote. Or something. Yeah, bye."

"Get your ass back here." Infinite said, reaching for him. Stopwatch swatted away his hand before it reached him. "Fine, no touching. Sit yourself down, I need to talk to you."

"But what about my memes?"

"Nobody gives a damn about your memes!"

"I give a damn about my memes!"

"Stop trying to change the subject!" Infinite snapped, and Stopwatch shrunk back. _Holy shit, he's scary._ "Do you have any idea how much of a dick move what you were doing was?"

Stopwatch pointed a finger at him, "Has it occurred to you that I don't care? He ignored me, I hurt him, now we're even."

"He ignored you, so you mess with his reality? Do you have any idea how bad that could've gone?"

"Whoa, talk normally," Stopwatch held up his hands. "You're the stupid hair ghost, not the wordy ghost."

Infinite raised an eyebrow, "You don't think what you did was wrong, do you?"

"He was a dick, I got my revenge. Time Turner doesn't like being called a girl so I gave him boobs." Stopwatch shrugged, "I don't see the problem."

"Oh my god," Infinite groaned, "You- you actually don't see what's wrong? You have no idea what you did wrong, do you?"

"I didn't do anything wrong," Stopwatch said. "He should've come to help me when I needed him."

"Your logic is stupid," Infinite pulled out a chair. "Sit down. Does the word misgendering mean anything to you?"

Stopwatch blinked, "I have no idea what that means."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Dash stormed forward the crowded cafeteria towards the trio. Danny shrunk down in his spot, trying to make himself seem smaller. When the blonde finally reached the visibly weaker boy, he was red with rage. "I asked for three mud pies," he said, throwing his cafeteria tray onto the table. "Know what they gave me? Three _mud _pies! Made with fucking _mud_." He spat the word. "All because of_ your _goddamn girlfriend."

"W-what?" Danny looked at Sam, then back at Dash. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Sam spat, "Besides, I'm taken."

"You have a boyfriend?" Tucker asked.

"No," Sam grinned. Tucker's eyes widened and he let out a squeaky noise as he cupped his hands over his mouth.

Danny frowned, "I'm confused."

Dash scoffed. "What? Do you have a girlfriend or something? Are you a fucking dyke or some shit?" He seemed to get even angrier.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Danny stood up. _I'm going to regret this._ "Who cares if she's- wait, Sam you're gay?"

"Pansexual," Sam said. "And if assholes like Dash have a problem with it they can go fuck themselves."

"Pansexual? The fuck is that? Do you screw pans or some shit?" Dash slurred cruelly.

"Actually," Sam leaned forwards, "Pansexual is when you like someone regardless of gender. I'm sure you didn't know it was a thing, words probably aren't your strong suit considering that you had to redo English. "

It looked like that had struck a nerve. "Sam..." Danny warned.

Dash was silent for a moment, but when he spoke, his words were laced with hatred, "I may have failed a grade, but it's better than being a dirty, greedy, whore."

Nearly half of the cafeteria was watching now, many looking like they were enjoying it. Mia was filming it. Rebecca looked annoyed. "Dash, leave her alone!" Danny said, "Sam isn't a whore! And uh- even if she was she'd still never have sex with you!"

Dash reached forward, grabbing Danny by the front collar of his shirt. "I wouldn't want to fuck your whore of a girlfriend anyways. Not when shes a greedy slut who eats fucking mud."

"Actually," Sam said unhelpfully, "It's topsoil."

"Fuck off!" Dash screamed at Sam as he brought his arm behind his head. Before Danny even realized what was happening, he had the most larger boys fist smashing into his face. Danny then fell to the ground, nursing his bleeding nose, as Dash grabbed a handful of mud off the tray. "Eat it. _All _of it." Sam and Tucker stood by, horrified.

_Where's that darn ghost when I need him?_ Danny stared at the mud, and then looked up. Maybe there'd be a teacher near by. Maybe there'd be Jazz. Maybe- _what the heck is that?_ Some sort of weirdly-translucent lunch lady floated by inside of the kitchen. _Is that...? What is that? I- I should get Prince. I should also eat this if I don't want to be murdered by Dash... oh god, what do I do?_ "I- I, uh..." He grabbed a handful of the mud, the attention of his fellow students still on him. _I'm going to regret this._ "Garbage fight!" He smashed the mud into Dash's face, used the plate to fend off his fist, and slid under the table.

"Dude," Tucker met him under there with a handful of napkins. "Here."

"It's not garbage!" Sam was shouting, "It's-"

"Sam," Danny hissed, pulling her down to meet them. "You've done enough." He held a clump of napkins to his nose. "Come on, I need to check something out."

Sam didn't say anything. Tucker however, did. "Is it whether or not you just broke your nose?"

"No, it's more important than that."

"Dude, your shirt was white before. We should find your sister."

"Or a nurse," Sam said, quietly.

"I'll be fine, I just- I really need to check this out." He started crawling out from under the table, heading towards the kitchen.

Behind them came a wrathful voice. "You're going to pay for this Fenton!" Dash screeched. "I'm going to make you wish you had never been fucking born!"

"Great," Danny muttered, still trying to avoid being caught in the food fight. "I'm still his favourite." He shoved the napkins up his nose a bit, winced in pain, and kept going.

Quietly, the three snuck into the kitchen. The sight before them was an elderly woman, floating as she held what appeared to be a salad.

"Hm, shouldn't be too bad," Tucker remarked as he inspected the spirit. "She kind of looks like my grandmother... but white."

"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?" Danny asked, throwing his bloody napkins in the garbage and grabbing another handful. "Um, excuse me!" Danny called, "What are you... doing here?" _I should call Mom and Dad. I really should. _

The ghost turned. "Oh!" She said sweetly. "Hello children." She floated towards them. "I was wondering if you could help me. Todays lunch is meatloaf. But I don't see any meatloaf. Did somebody change the menu?"

"Yeah," Tucker scoffed as he pointed at Sam. "She did."

Suddenly, the sweet old lady became enraged. Her voice became high pitched and shrill as she looked more like a horror movie character than a sweet woman. "You changed the menu?!" she screamed as the three moved back. "The menu has been the same for _fifty years_!" Green flames began to circle her head.

"I always knew I'd die on a Monday," Danny stepped back, pushing Tucker and Sam behind him. "Get behind me!"

"Wow, I feel safe." Sam said sarcastically.

"Sam, shut up." Danny muttered, grabbing at the whistle. _Please work._ "Hey, lunch lady! Cover your ears!" He brought the whistle up and blew.

There was a screech, and Prince crashed through the ceiling. "Jesus fucking-" The ghost stopped, staring at the Lunch Lady. "Hello."

"Prince Phantom?!" the shouted in shock. "You're no longer in existence..." she trailed off before once again being consumed with rage. Green fire sprouted from all around her body as dishes from around the room began to levitate. A moment later, they began to be thrown at the teens.

"Get down!" Prince shouted, knocking the three humans to the ground.

"Why didn't you tell me you had friends?" Danny muttered, ducking as a plate flew overhead and smashed into the wall. _I could've caught that. I should've caught that._

"I don't," Prince said, taking a breath in. "Whoever you are, I- I command you to..." Prince pushed himself to his feet, grabbing a plate from the air before it could hit him. "I command you to go away!"

"Well," Danny whispered to Tucker, "We're dead."

Pots and pans from around the room joined in the swirling mess around the entity. "I control lunch! Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules!" She suddenly become very calm. "Any children want cake?"

In shock, they nodded.

Again she became enraged. "Well too bad! Children who change my menu don't get cake!"

Three stoves lit up in green flames as the ghost left through the roof, and the three humans were roughly pulled to their feet. "Get out," Prince said, "Get out now."

"Uh," Danny looked back at the assorted flaming and broken things in front of the door. "Yeah how do we do that?"

"I'm going to die," Tucker said, "I'm going to die in a kitchen! Surrounded by salads!"

"We're not going to die," Sam said, "We're- why hasn't the stupid fire alarm gone off yet?!"

The stoves moved towards them, and Prince raised his fists. "I told you all to go!"

"We can't!" Danny was trying very hard not to panic, and to keep breathing correctly. "We're stuck in here with ghost-ovens!"

"Oh for the love of-" Prince reached back, grabbing onto Danny's wrist. "I have to do everything myself." There was a flash of light, and then the strange feeling of sharing a body.

"_Really?"_

"_If you've got a better plan, I'd love to hear it."_ He grabbed onto Sam and Tucker, and managed to throw all of them through a wall. Danny heard the stoves crash into it once they were on the other side. _"Oh thank god, that actually worked."_ They separated, all four of them falling onto the ground.

Irritation coated Sam's voice, "So this is what I get for being a fucking individual?!"

"Sam," Tucker said, "We have bigger problems." There was suddenly a loud crash as the lights began to flicker and go out as sparks of electricity flew throughout the hallway.

Unnoticed by his friends, Danny's breath quickened at the sight of the sparks. He found himself unable to breathe as he leaned against the wall for support. A moment later, he slid down it, curling into a ball as he desperately tried to calm his shaking muscles and force his lungs to take in oxygen. Neither happened. He thought of the accident, the flash of lights and electricity around him. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. The world shifted as he became dizzy, was somebody calling his name? He couldn't tell, all he knew is that he _needed _air and wasn't getting it and it was _terrifying_. His vision become spotty. He. Needed. Air. He was back in the portal, dying. _I always knew I'd die on a Monday_. And then, his everything went black.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Danny?" Tucker said, kneeling beside him. "Danny!"

"Great," Prince muttered, "He forgot how to breathe again."

"I think he passed out," Sam added in.

"Would both of you shut up!" Tucker screamed as he shook his best friend's arm. "Come on Danny, wake up!" Suddenly, his nose perked up. "Wait... meat? Steak... Ribeye...! Porterhouse... Medium-rare... what?" The three conscious teens turned their heads to face the still angry spirit. Meat floated down to hallways and packed against her, building a sort of meat monster. "But where did it come from?" he whined, momentarily forgetting about Danny as realization sank in. "Lancer!"

The Lunch Lady moved closer, drawing the groups attention. Sam stepped back, kneeling down beside Danny. "Come on Danny, wake up! You- wake up!"

"Stop," Prince said, "Just make sure he doesn't get hurt. Call his sister." He stepped forwards, slowly floating up off the ground. "Who sent you?" Prince's voice shook as he addressed the ghost.

"Nobody sent me," she bellowed, "prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the food groups!" Suddenly, she once again swapped back to being a kind old lady. SHe turned to Sam and held a platter of chocolate chip cookies. "Cookie?" She asked.

Sam shook her head. Obviously concerned for Danny.

Furious once more, she prepare to attack, "Then perish!"

Prince was between her and Sam, hands coated with ectoplasm. "Leave the humans alone!" A meaty hand came towards him, which Prince dodged by dropping down and pushing himself closer to Sam. "I know you hate me," He seemed to be talking to Sam, "But I don't really care. Get out of here before you get hurt."

"I don't have to take orders from you!" Sam shouted, standing up as Prince did. "I-" She cut off as a second attack managed to hit Prince, sending him tumbling head-first into an open locker.

"Fuck, Sam, come on!" Tucker screamed as he ran from Danny's side to grab her, she turned, obviously to argue. Only before she could, the Lunch Lady grabbed her and flew off.

"Well," Prince said, struggling out from the locker. "That was anti-climatic. At least it's quiet now."

"We need to go find her," Tucker said bluntly. "God knows what's happening to her right now."

"Yes, and leave the unconscious guy on the floor." Prince said, "That's a good plan. Almost as good as pissing off a ghost who controls meat! Are all living people idiots?!"

"No!" Tucker shouted a little too loudly. "We're just teenagers you really arent fucking used to bullshit like this! Ghosts?! No kid deals with this so excuse me- us- for being a little unsure of what the fuck we're doing." He sighed and looked at Danny. "One of us needs to stay with Danny, and the other needs to go find Jazz. Guess which one you're stuck with."

"Yay, his sister!" Prince grinned, "I like her. She doesn't question it when I steal her erasers." He looked at Danny, "You know that hospital thing? He probably needs that hospital thing." And then the ghost was gone.

Tucker sighed and sat next to his friend. "Goddamn it Danny." He heard Lancer's voice, and then Dash's. "This sort of shit is only supposed to happen to fictional characters."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny felt like he'd been hit by a train. And that the impact had been right on his nose.

He opened his eyes, blinking slowly and taking in the walls of the infirmary. The blood on his shirt had mostly dried up, and what was on his skin had been wiped away. He turned his head slowly, looking at the person sitting beside him. "Jazz?"

"Hey Danny," she said softly as she carefully brushed a few strands of his hair from his face. "How are you feeling?"

Danny lifted a hand and touched his nose. "Ow. Like a truck hit me." He propped himself up, struggling to sit. Danny leaned back, resting against a wall. "Where's... Tucker? And Sam?" _And Prince?_

"Not sure," Jazz said as she handed Danny her water bottle. "Tucker said you had a panic attack?"

Danny took a drink before speaking, and fiddled with the cap. "I... the lights were sparking, Jazz." He handed her back the water bottle, "It's stupid, I know."

She let out a sad sigh. "Danny, it's not stupid..." it sounded like she wanted to say something, but decided against it. "Are you alright?"

"No," Danny held up his shirt, "Mom is going to kill me. If she even notices anything besides the stupid portal."

"Lancer wants to talk to you, and then I'm taking you home," Jazz explained, obviously ignoring his comment about the portal.

"Oh, great," Danny groaned, "I get to be told how much I screwed up! How fun."

Again Jazz sighed. "Danny you didn't screw up. Nobody thinks you're weak or blames you okay? Everything will be fine little brother. Mom and Dad probably won't even realize we're home."

Danny looked down, not wanting to argue with his sister. Of course their parents wouldn't notice they were home. They didn't notice anything besides their stupid portal anymore. "As long as one of us believes that," He whispered.

"Danny believe believe me, it's alright. Now here," she reached into her backpack and pulled out at shirt. "I always keep an extra one for you."

Danny took it, forcing a smile. "Can you leave so I can change?"

Jazz nodded. "Course. I'm going to go talk to our teachers. I'll text you when I'm done." With that, she left.

Danny swapped shirts, throwing the blood-caked one to the side. There was an echo-y grunt, and Danny turned to see Prince awkwardly holding it. "Ew," He said, dropping the shirt on the side. "Ew."

"Great," Danny crossed his arms, "What do you want?"

"I saved you from that ghost," Prince said, "Don't I at least get a thank you?"

"No, not until that ghost can't hurt anyone else. Where's Sam and Tucker?"

"Well, Tucker's with the fat bald guy who was talking to your sister," Prince frowned. "And uh... still trying to find your other friend. Lunch Lady got her."

"She _what?!"_ Danny stepped forward, "You let a ghost get Sam?!"

Prince narrowed his eyes, "I'm not arguing with you. It's not my fault that stupid portal keeps letting ghosts out!" He floated up, "Baldy's coming in any moment now. I'm going to try and find Blacky." He left with that.

"Daniel," a voice said from the doorway behind him. Dany turned to find Lancer, who was being shadowed by a very angry and very muddy Dash.

"Told ya you'd pay, Fenton," the Jock sneered.

Danny was led into Lancer's office, where he was sat down beside Tucker. Lancer pulled out folders, and Danny saw his and Tucker's names written on the edges. "Tucker Foley," he began, "chronic tardiness, talking in class, repeated loitering by the ladies' locker room." He opened the other folder, "Daniel Fenton, thirty four broken beakers in the past month, banned for life from handling all fragile school property. But no severe mischief before today." The man took a deep breath. "So tell me boys," he calmly began, "why did you conspire to destroy the school cafeteria?!" He not as calmly ended.

"That's what you're mad about?" Danny frowned, "Not my broken nose, or how the kitchen might've-"

"Danny," Tucker whispered, "Danny no. Stop talking."

"As Mr. Baxter threw four touchdown passes in the last game, he is exempt from scorn." Lancer said, "You two, however, are not."

"Uh-huh, because that's fair." Danny grumbled, slouching in his chair. He entertained the idea of siccing his parents on Mr. Lancer; his mom would kick him in the face, and his dad would shoot him full of corrosive gunk. A smile twitched onto Danny's face as he continued with his fantasy.

Tucker elbowed him, and Danny quickly composed himself. "Anything you'd like to say, Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked.

Danny coughed, very aware of how much he'd started blushing. "No, sir."

Lancer stood, "I'll map out your punishment when I return. Mr. Baxter?" Him and Dash both stepped into the hallway, "Guard the door."

The door closed with a click, and Danny quickly looked back at Tucker. "I am so, so sorry man. I really am."

"Danny, no. Just stop," He moved to his feet, "We've gotta find Sam. For some reason, I feel like I got her kidnapped."

"Maybe because you told the ghost she changed the menu? How about that?"

Tucker sniffed the air, moving away from Lancer's desk. Raising an eyebrow, Danny quickly moved to his side. "That steak is still in the building. 200 yards, tops."

"Did you just name a ghost That Steak?"

"I think," Prince spoke up, and Danny and Tucker turned to him with wide eyes, "He was talking about the meat suit she wears. Also, found Blackie." He held out a hand, "I'll distract the ghost, you two get her out and run. I don't want you getting in the way."

"Yeah," Tucker said, "Because we definitely wanted to stick around and fight that thing."

Danny frowned, looking at Prince's hand. "How are you going to fight her?"

"Does it matter? Just- oh, whatever." Prince grabbed on to both their wrists and pulled them through the floor, not acknowledging Tucker's yelp of surprise.

"Danny!" Tucker snapped, "Control your-" He stopped, staring at something behind Danny. "Sweet mother of mutton." He walked past Danny, who turned to see his best friend hugging what appeared to be a box of meat. "I dreamed of it, but I never thought I'd live to see it! The school meat room!"

"How is it that I'm the one with a ghost stalking me," Danny said, "And _you're_ the weird kid?"

"This can't be sanitary," Prince crossed his arms. "Stop breathing on that. Other humans have to eat it."

Tucker's reply was to suck in a breath of air and blow it on the meat. Danny snickered, and Prince looked distraught.

"No," He whispered, "People were supposed to eat that!"

"I don't think anyone eats those cardboard boxes, Prince." Danny said.

"Really? Than what are your lunches made of?"

"Whatever the lunch ladies hit on their drive to school in the morning," Tucker spoke up, setting a box aside. "I'm totally taking pictures of this place once we've rescued Sam. Speaking of Sam, where is she?"

Prince pointed on the other side of the stack of meat boxes as Danny heard Sam yell, "We don't need meat! That's fact!"

"Oh," Danny said, "Yikes. That ghost is still there, isn't she?"

"Yep," Prince rubbed his wrists, looking around the stack of boxes. "I'll distract her. You find a way get your friend out of that... pile of meat? That can't be sanitary."

Tucker held up a plastic fork and knife. "Way ahead of you."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Have you been holding onto those since lunch?"

"Maybe."

Prince cleared his throat, pointed at the Lunch Lady, and attacked. Danny ignored the pain which quickly spread through his right arm, and moved with Tucker to Sam's side.

"I'll have you free in no time, Sam!" Tucker said, starting to cut off a piece of uncooked meat.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," She said, and looked over at Danny. "Are you okay?"

"Are you?" Danny asked, looking past her as Prince kicked the ghost away. "You're the one in a meat pile. Tucker, no." He grabbed the fork from his friend and threw it over his shoulder, "Don't eat that."

"Betrayal always comes from those closest," Tucker said, dramatically placing a hand on his head. Danny winced as the Lunch Lady threw Prince into a wall. "So what do we do?"

Danny pulled his eyes away from Prince, ignoring the pain in his body which he was certain was not his own. "Grab an arm," He locked both hands around one of Sam's arms, and Tucker did the same. "Okay. Three, two- now!" Both pulled with all their strength, and Sam slipped out from the meat pile. The trio landed on their backs, covered in meat juices and had to move quickly to avoid getting even more on them.

"You know, I like meat," Tucker said as they stood, "But that was ridiculous."

Danny didn't say anything, too busy trying to watch as Prince was nearly skewered. The ghost manipulated his body around the shish kabobs that had been thrown at him, never once breaking eye contact with the ghost.

"I don't!" Sam said, frantically trying to get the meat juice off of her. "Get it off of me!"

As if following her commands, the meat flew away, wrapping itself around the Lunch Lady. She fired a blast of meat at Prince, which upon hitting him reformed into a fist. Prince was pulled closer to the larger ghost, and Danny felt as if something was crushing him.

Danny grabbed the plastic knife from Tucker, and in an effort to do _something,_ threw it as hard as he could at the Lunch Lady. Much to his surprise, it stabbed her in the side of her head. The ghost let out a roar and threw Prince through a wall. She turned to face the trio of humans slowly, pulling out the knife and dropping it to the ground.

"Well," Danny said. "I tried."

"Run?" Tucker offered.

"Run," Sam agreed.

Screaming, the trio turned on their heels and ran.

Unfortunately, their terrified escape was blocked by a pile of meat. Danny skid to a stop, throwing out his arms to stop his friends from crashing into the meat. They moved around it, closer to the wall, trying to see if there was a way through. There wasn't.

Prince, who had come back through the wall while they were running, looked exhausted. "Back off!" He shouted, looking as if he was about to start fighting again. And also as if he was about to fall over.

Danny pulled the ghost back by his shirt, ignoring Prince's yelp of surprise, and held up his fists. "Hey, big and greasy!" He steadied himself, one foot bumping into the wall. Would it work? Probably not. At this rate they were probably going to become tomorrow's lunch. But Prince could barely hold himself up, so forcing the ghost to do this was out of the question. And dying _did not _sound appealing. Danny put him hands on the walls, focusing on the feelings he'd felt this morning. "See ya!"

Much to Danny's surprise, his plan actually worked and he fell through the wall. Sam, Tucker, and Prince followed.

"Dude," Tucker whispered, "That was awesome."

"That was," Sam said, "How'd you know it would work?"

"I didn't," Danny beamed, "But that didn't mean I wasn't going to try."

"This... this is nice and all," Prince spoke up, sounding strained. "But ghosts can go through walls."

It was Sam who spoke up. "Prince Phantom, get us out of here."

The ghost tensed, glared at her, and formed together with Danny. He grabbed the other two humans by their wrists and pulled them through the roof, dropping everyone off in a school field before separating from Danny. "I... I hate you all," He muttered, his form flickering.

Danny reached a hand over. "Hey, Prince, are you-" Prince shoved his hand away.

"Don't bother," He snapped. "Don't bother trying to pretend you care about me." He stood, glaring at the trio of humans. "Do any of you realize what you've done?!"

"I don't think it matters," Tucker said, "You're going to tell us anyway."

Prince screamed with frustration. "No! You know what?! No! You want to be idiotic little shits and not realize the severity of what you've just done?! Then fine! Fine by me! I hope this meat monster or whatever ghost comes next actually kills one of you! That might teach you to _mind your own damn business!_" He disappeared, but Danny could still feel the ghost's fury.

Tucker clapped his hands. "And that is why we don't take meat away from the school lunches."

"Excuse me?" Sam leaned closer to him, _"Excuse me?"_

"Guys," Danny groaned, "Can we not do this right now? We're-"

"STAY OUT OF THIS, DANNY!" Their shouts were in perfect sync, and Danny held up his hands in surrender.

"At least I didn't almost get him killed!" Sam snapped, both her and Tucker rising to their feet.

"Are you sure? What was that bit with Dash, then?" Tucker adopted a voice which was a crude mimic of Sam's, "'Actually, it's topsoil. Look, I'm so special; I eat dirt!' This only happened because you had to be a special little _snowflake._ You had to ruin it for everyone else! You _had_ to take the meat away! And you know what? I'm going to get it back!" With that, Tucker started to storm off.

"You want to change that menu back?!" Sam screamed, following after Tucker. "You're gonna have to go through _me _to do it!"

Danny was left sitting in the field, feeling pain and exhaustion that he was certain came from his ghost. "Oh well," He muttered, standing up and searching the parking lot for his sister's car. "I'm sure everything will be back to normal tomorrow."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"What are you making?"

"Raisin cookies," Tardis said, turning to face Time Turner. "Want to help, or are you just here to steal my dough?"

"Uh, I'm good," He stepped back, and Tardis shrugged. "There's going to be a lot of raisin stuff in the next few days, isn't there?"

"April fourth is only a few days away," Tardis said. "And they taste better if the dough is chilled. Trust me Turner, I know my shit."

"I don't doubt it," He held up his hands in surrender, and Tardis turned back to her baking. "Why do you do this every year? Whatever you're trying to celebrate, Clockwork hates."

Tardis pointed at him with the spoon, "No, he hates the attention." Tardis knew she really shouldn't judge him for that; she'd never been fond of being the center of attention, either. Then again, feeling the same way had never stopped her from being a judgemental bitch before. "And actually taking care of himself like a normal person."

"And you don't?" Turner asked.

Again, Tardis turned to face him. "Just get whatever you came for and get out."

Holding up his hands in surrender, Time Turner made his way closer to the fridge.

Tardis tried to pretend that she didn't feel bad. Time Turner was just worried about her, she didn't need to be so rude. Feeling bad about it had never stopped her before, however.

Tardis took a quick drink from the wine glass beside her as the door squeaked open. "Okay, seriously," Infinite said, "It's like this door is trying to piss me off."

"Yes," Stopwatch agreed, "Because that's totally a thing not living objects do."

"You mean inanimate?"

"Shut up."

Tardis gripped the spoon tighter. She _despised_ Stopwatch. And there Infinite was, trying to make friends without any regard for his own safety. It wasn't like the other ghost was training with someone who probably didn't have good intentions towards her or Clockwork or anything. He wouldn't be trying so hard to keep it a secret if this mysterious person liked them.

When she'd first entered the kitchen, an hour or so ago, Infinite had been trying to educate Stopwatch on gender and sexuality. It'd been a failure, of course; some people were too trapped in their bigoted ideals that they couldn't be dragged out. She'd kicked them out into another room, not wanting to hear Infinite's vain attempts to correct Stopwatch's problematic shit.

Unfortunately, Infinite didn't seem to get the message. She turned as he crept up beside her, motioning to the wary Time Turner. "Okay, go."

Stopwatch stepped forwards, taking a breath in. "Time Turner, I am very sorry for what I did earlier. It was wrong, and I shouldn't have done that. And uh..." He looked to Infinite, trailing off.

"Hey, this is your apology," Infinite said, holding up his hands. Stopwatch muttered something under his breath, while Tardis and Time Turner exchanged a look.

"That's really not necessary," Time Turner said, looking between the three ghosts.

"Oh, good!" Stopwatch stood a little straighter, "So, guess I'll just be leaving-"

"_Stopwatch,"_ Infinite said, crossing his arms.

Tardis raised an eyebrow. _What is that tone? Disappointed dad?_

"Ugh, fine!" He turned back to Time Turner. "I'm sorry about the thing I did, it was wrong, I'm a dick because I wasn't respecting your gender identity and uh, yeah. Sorry. Can I go now?"

Infinite motioned to the door, and Stopwatch hastily left through it. Tardis watched both of the boys curiously, trying to figure out exactly what had happened.

"I spent six hours trying to convince him why he should do that," Infinite said, "And that was the lamest apology I've ever heard."

Time Turner nodded, grabbing an orange. "Don't ask, Tardis. You don't want to know." He quickly left the room.

Infinite frowned, "Well, there's six hours of my life I'll never get back. I mentioned gay people and he said ew. It's twenty-fucking-fourteen and he said ew to gay people."

"I warned you," Tardis grabbed her glass and took another drink of wine. "I hate that child."

"Yeah, because of the whole 'you probably murdered a timeline but I can't prove it' thing but this is different! I was trying to tell him about gender and sexuality and stuff- don't ask- and he just seemed really uncomfortable and confused." Infinite looked disgusted, "I thought I was shit at being socially conscious, but at least I try! He didn't even know what he was doing wrong!"

"Yes, good for you. You put up with the douche child. Please reward yourself with a sticker on your way out." Tardis took another drink, "Just try to ignore him. The only reason he's here is because of who he's training with."

"Huh?" Infinite reached for some of the cookie dough, and Tardis swatted his hand away. "Ow, hey!"

"It's full of raisins; leave it alone."

"Ew," Infinite's usual weird half-smile was back. "Lying chocolate chips. So who's Stopwatch training with? I'd like to have a word with them; they nearly broke his wrist!"

Tardis shrugged, moving the dough bowl out of Infinite's reach. "We don't know."

Infinite raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'll spell it out for you;" Tardis took another, longer drink of wine. "If a ghost with Timey Powers is out of the Time Tower, the Observants are technically allowed to kill them. If they're here, the assholes with eyes aren't allowed to touch them. That's against the rules. Whatever's going on with Stopwatch has been going on for longer than you've been alive, and he doesn't even try to hide how good he is with his powers. He was trained by a damn good reality manipulator, and someone that strong would have a lot of problems not being found. They'd be safer here. If they're willing to take a high chance of dying over coming here, then they aren't on our side."

Infinite glanced at Tardis' wine glass. "Fair enough. So why are you letting-"

"We aren't; the little shit is sneaky. It's almost as if he likes being treated like shit." She finished off her glass, and turned around to pour herself another. The wine bottle was gone. "Infinite..."

"What?" His hands were hiding behind his back, "I don't have it."

Tardis held out a hand, "Give me the bottle."

"Nope. I'm taller and you can't fly. It's mine now."

Tardis tried not to show how much Infinite's comment had hurt her. She hated being reminded of the things wrong with her. "I'll melt you."

"I'll teleport."

"For God's sake Infinite, just give me the damn wine!"

"Are you whining for the wine?"

Tardis stepped back, and still glaring at him, brought down another bottle of wine from the cupboard above her. "I win," She said, smiling.

Infinite frowned and shrugged, "Well, I tried. I'll see you when you're sober." He left quickly, half-empty wine bottle still in hand, and the door squeaked close behind him.

Tardis couldn't help but laugh when Infinite screamed at it in frustration.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Maddie, look what I did! Now it sucks up everything but hair!"

"Jack, we are _not_ using the Fenton Extractor on our daughter!"

"But-"

"_No."_

Maddie opened the door from the lab to the kitchen, and was surprised to see her son glancing uneasily between her and the microwave. "Hi... Mom, hi Dad." He said.

"Danny, it's nearly midnight." Maddie said, "What are you doing up so late?"

Danny rested one hand on the back of his neck, and Maddie couldn't help but notice how bruised his face was. "I was hungry," Danny said.

Maddie stepped forwards, "Danny, what happened to your face?"

Her son stepped back, "Mom, it's fine, really. I- I tripped. Yeah, tripped."

Maddie looked back at her husband, and both parents slowly moved towards their son. "Danny, who hit you?"

There was a pause before Danny said, "It was a... a chunk of meat."

"_Danny,"_ Maddie said, more forcefully this time.

"Technically, anything is a chunk of meat if it tries hard enough." Danny continued, laughing nervously. The microwave beeped, and Danny quickly turned to grab his food. "Well, food's done. Love you see you goodnight!"

"Danny," Jack spoke up, and their son froze. "You know you can tell us anything, huh? Even if it's not about ghosts."

Danny muttered something that Maddie didn't catch before once again quickly moving to leave.

Maddie looked over at her husband, no words passing between them. Something was wrong with their son, and not just the aftermath from the portal. And they knew it was their fault.

They'd known since Jazz was seven, and come home from school crying about what the other students had called her. Their career would cause problems for their children; and bullying was just one of many. Maddie had talked to the school before, and it seemed as if she needed to do it again. She loved her children, and hated to see them suffering because of her profession. Especially after the portal accident.

Maddie and Jack were good parents. They loved their children. And to know that their passion had nearly killed their youngest was terrifying. Sleepness nights, racked with guilt, were common for them both. They'd buried themselves in their work because it was a distraction. But now?

It occurred to Maddie that isolating herself from her son when he was struggling and likely needed her wasn't a particularly bright idea.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"What was that you said," Prince spoke up from where he hovered invisibly beside Danny, "About everything going back to normal?"

Danny sighed. "Or not. Maybe it'll be worse."

On one side of the school field, there was a stage which people dressed as hot dogs dancing on it. It was surrounded by people dressed as meat, with meat balloons, and a meat truck. The dancers moved off stage, and Tucker stepped forward. "What do we want?!" He shouted into the microphone.

"Meat!" The crowd cheered back.

"When do we want it?!"

"Now!"

On the other side of the field, there was something which was similar to the meat protest. Only it looked like something from the 1960s, and they seemed to be protesting for vegetables. Sam stood on top of a school bus, a sign in her hand. She led her crowd in a chant; "Veggies now! Veggies forever! Veggies now! Veggies forever!"

"Your friends scare me," Prince said.

"Good," Danny said as Sam and Tucker seemed to notice him and made their way over to Danny's side. "Did you guys really put together two protests? In one night? I'm not sure if I should be scared or impressed."

"Meat eaters, Danny." Tucker said, glaring at Sam. "Always ready to fight. And our high-protein diets give us the energy to do it quickly."

"Ultra-recyclo-vegetarians are always ready to protest." Sam returned the glare, "And because we don't have waste time cooking our food, we can move even _faster_."

"Don't you guys think this is a little extreme?"

"Maybe more than a little?"

"Shut up, Prince."

"There's no choice anymore, buddy!" Tucker said, stepping towards Danny. "You're either with me-"

"Or you're against him!" Sam had reached Danny first.

"SO WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" They screamed in sync.

Danny stepped back, holding up his hands in surrender. "Please stop doing that. Guys, seriously! It's just a school lunch menu!"

It was then that Danny's ghost sense went off and cackling echoed through the air. Prince turned visible, narrowing his eyes at Tucker's protest. The people there seemed confused. "Oh, this can't be good."

It was at that moment that Tucker's meat truck exploded. The meat spun around in a huge spiral, about three times as tall as the school, before forming the Lunch Lady.

"It's lunchtime!" She shouted, and and screams met her call.

"Meat!" Tucker dropped to his knees, "Why have you betrayed me?!"

Danny pulled his friends to the side so they wouldn't be crushed when everyone started to run. "My parents drove me. Maybe they're still here. They can stop this thing!"

"I don't think anyone can stop this thing," Tucker said. "This is like a superhero comic, only without the superhero."

The crowd was trying to run away, but Lunch Lady had blocked off the main escape routes with piles of meat. Someone was caught in one. Danny heard them scream. "Screw it," He whispered, "Guys, find my parents. Prince-" He held out a hand, "We have to help them. People are going to die if we don't do something!"

"Fair enough," Prince grabbed Danny's hand, and the two formed together, rushing up to meet the ghost.

She gave a ferocious yell when she noticed them, and Danny took control to dodge it. "Prince, keep us flying." He muttered, doing his best to only focus on the Lunch Lady. "I've got the rest."

"Works for me."

Danny neatly moved the shared body to avoid a slap from the other hand, and an uppercut from the first. He needed an opening. Otherwise he was-

Thanks to Danny's lapse in attention, the ghost landed a hit. Danny had no idea what else they hit, but for some reason afterwards, Prince was controlling an arm which held a glass of water. _"What am I supposed to do with this?"_

"_How did you- wait, why aren't we speaking out loud?"_

"_I have no idea."_

"_New plan,"_ Danny focused on the meat monster, _"We ram her as hard as we can."_

"_With the cup?"_

"_With the cup."_

.-.-.-.-.-.

Jazz, on the other side of the school, stood next to a goth student with a mohawk. "Spike, you have to open up to your parents! Be true to yourself and them!"

Spike watched her without emotion on his face, "You first."

Jazz laughed nervously, "Spike, this isn't about me! This is about-"

"Jazz?"

Jazz turned, colour draining from her face. "Mom, Dad! What are you-"

She was cut off as Jack pulled a thermos out from somewhere and pointed it at her. "Eat hot Fenton Thermos, ghost gal!"

"Jack!" Maddie scolded as the thermos fizzled and died. "What did I say about attacking our daughter?!"

"Not to," Jack muttered, shaking the thermos. "Darn thing still doesn't work."

"Maybe because," Jazz started, "I'm not a ghost?"

Maddie sighed, "Sweetie, it was an-"

"Don't 'Sweetie' me, Mom!" Jazz snapped, pointing a finger in her mother's face. "I'm not a child anymore. I'm not going to let you get away with showing up here and humiliating me in front of Spike just because you think I might be something that doesn't even exist! For god's sake, I'm your child! What's next, are you going to assume Danny's turning into a werewolf?!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Maddie said, "Werewolves aren't real."

Jazz nearly screamed in frustration, "You have no proof, your theories are loose at best, and just because you found a way to access a bunch of loose ectoplasm doesn't prove anything! You need to stop chasing this stupid dream that you'll find a real ghost and grow up, before you actually hurt someone! Mom," She took a breath, "Danny had an anxiety attack yesterday that was so bad he passed out, and he got punched in the face! You know what he said to me, with his shirt covered in blood? He said that you would kill him for ruining the shirt, if you ever noticed anything besides the portal. He thinks you don't care about him anymore! What do you have to say for yourselves?!"

Horrified silence met her rant. Jazz fixed her parents with a glare, and in the end, it was her father who spoke. "I, Jack Fenton, from this day forth, do hereby turn my back on ghosts." He turned and took a few steps. Jazz gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth. _I've done it. I actually managed to convince them to stop this!_

"Jack..." Maddie whispered.

"Oh, Dad!" Jazz rushed forwards and pulled her father into a hug. "Thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me, and to Danny! Thank you Daddy, thank you!"

He hugged her back for a few long moments before holding up the thermos. "And this thermos can't trap ghosts because... ghosts don't exist." He threw it over his shoulder.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Their plan resulted in a huge explosion which had forced them apart, and a large crater. But it had broken the meat suit, and that was the main thing.

"Prince," Danny said, pulling the ghost out of the crater and trying to ignore how much his right arm hurt, "You hurt?"

"Fine," Prince said, "You?"

"Sore." _That is going to leave one nasty bruise, _"But fine."

"Oh dear," The Lunch Lady spoke up, and the both of them turned towards her with their fists raised. "What a mess. Are you boys okay?"

"Um," Prince said, looking over at Danny, "Maybe?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded, rubbing his arm. "I think so."

And then she was furious with them again, "Tough! Because you two being okay is not part of my balanced diet of doom!"

Danny felt something grab his leg, and looked down to see a little meat monster grab him. He screamed and kicked it away, but four more took it's place. He screamed as they grabbed him, catching sight of Sam and Tucker watching him from under a picnic table. "Guys!" He shouted, "A little help!"

Prince grabbed one of the meat monsters, throwing it aside. "Run!" He shouted, "Get out of here, go!"

Danny smashed his fist down on a meat monster, "I kind of can't!" Disgusted and gagging, Danny pulled his foot free and destroyed all the meat monsters with a kick. "And now I can," He smiled.

The smile fell away when the meat monsters reformed, looking angrier than before.

Prince bumped into Danny's back, "You should've ran."

"To be fair, I was _not_ expecting that!" He'd barely finished speaking when the Lunch Lady hit Prince with something, knocking him back into the crater. "Or that."

The meat monsters grabbed him, pulling Danny into the air. Again he screamed, dangling by his feet high above the school. Something was flying towards him, and Danny lifted his hands to stop his face from being injured for the second time in two days.

He wasn't exactly unsuccessful.

Nose and hands stinging, Danny pulled them away to see what he had caught. "The Fenton Thermos?" He aimed it at the meat monsters, "Put me down!" It fizzled and died. "Uh-oh."

The meat monsters cackled as they let go, and yet again a scream ripped from Danny's throat. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't see the ground. _I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die and it's not even going to be on a Monday!_

Someone grabbed him, and Danny opened his eyes to see Prince holding onto him. "Hello human," He said. "Would you like some help?"

"Yes!" Danny shouted. Prince made them intangible just before they hit the ground, and Danny made sure to say "Thanks for the thermos!" to what seemed to be his family. He wasn't paying that much attention.

"So," Prince said, setting Danny down behind an overturned picnic table. "This has gone horribly wrong. But I think if we hit her with- what is that?"

Danny held up the Fenton Thermos. "It's supposed to trap ghosts, but we can't figure out how to get it to work. It's about as useful as my cell phone." _Which I didn't charge last night. Wait. Wait!_ Danny's eyes widened and he pushed the thermos into Prince's hands. "Charge it!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

"I don't know how!"

The picnic table was lifted up, and Danny swallowed nervously. The ghost looked furious, and Sam and Tucker were nowhere to be seen.

"Hiding? During lunch?" She said.

"It's nine in the morning!" Danny shouted, standing up. He was hurt, he was tired, and he was terrified. But more than anything, he just wanted this to be over. "I'll give you one chance; leave, or face the wrath of the Fenton family! My parents are professional ghost hunters and they are not afraid of monsters like you!"

The Lunch Lady lifted Danny up by his wrist. With more force than was probably necessary, she threw him. Danny threw out his arms to break his fall and he swore he heard the right one snap.

Danny rolled onto his back with a shout of pain, clutching his broken arm close. Sam and Tucker, out from wherever they'd been hiding, rushed to his side. His arm was already swelling, and Danny bit his lip. "I don't want to go back to the hospital," He muttered.

"We've got you, Danny," Sam said, "You're okay."

Danny didn't reply, and let himself be helped to his feet. Something knocked the Lunch Lady back, and Danny watched as Prince's fist appeared to be smoking. "This ends now!" He aimed the thermos and uncapped it.

Feeling the ghost's uncertainty, Danny whispered, "Please work."

Much to the surprise of everyone who could see, it did.

The ghost was wrapped in blue energy and sucked inside of the thermos, and Danny pumped his uninjured hand in the air. "Thank god it's over!"

"What just happened?" Sam asked, "Where's the ghost?"

"My parents have their moments," Danny said, noticing Prince moving quickly towards them.

"Dude, I don't think you realize what you just did." Tucker said, "You literally fought a giant meat monster. Who can say they've done that? And I filmed it all!" He held up his phone, "What do you have to say for yourself, Super Danny?"

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Well for one, I'd like a better name."

"Okay Mr. Pouty Pants," Tucker turned the phone to Prince, "What about you, the Phantom Menace?"

Prince blinked, looking the three of them over. "You're joking. You're all- you don't realize what you've just gotten yourselves into, do you?"

Danny grabbed the thermos back, "Are you actually going to tell us this time?"

Prince stepped back, shaking his head. "Next time, run like the other humans." He rubbed his own arm, and then looked at Danny's. "You broke it."

"Great," Danny grumbled, handing Sam the thermos. "I do need a hospital."

"May I?" Prince didn't wait for an answer and grabbed Danny's arm. The ghost seemed to cool it down, but Danny was too confused to protest even when his arm went numb. "This might hurt a bit." Something seemed to snap, and a jolt went up Danny's arm.

Danny gasped and snatched his arm back. "What did you do?"

"I fixed it," He said, "You're lucky that wasn't a bad break. Next time it won't be so painless." Prince stepped back, "Consider this a warning. Next time, run like the other humans."

"We do have names," Sam said. "Why don't you use them?"

"Ghost directly ahead. You would have to be some sort of moron not to notice the ghost directly ahead."

Danny pulled Prince behind him and Sam hid the thermos behind her back as Danny's parents approached, Fenton Finder in hand. Jazz trailed behind them, looking furious.

"Hi, everyone!" Danny waved a hand weakly, "This is Sam's cousin, Joseph. He doesn't speak English so don't try to talk to him. The uh, ghost went... that way." He pointed to the left.

"We got a runner!" Jack took off, and Maddie started to follow.

"Jazz, honey!" She called, "Come on! You can hear the end of your father's 'I'm right' song!"

"Thanks for that," Jazz said, barely paying any attention to her brother. "Now we're back to square one." She reluctantly moved to follow.

"So," Tucker said, "You aren't going to tell them?"

Danny shook his head, turning back to Prince. "Nah. These things we can do- Sam's right, they do make us special. We beat the Lunch Lady. We won. Who else can say they did that?" Danny held out his hand, "What do you say, Prince? We work well together, don't we? So... friends?"

Prince looked at Danny's hand for a second before glaring at him. "No." He disappeared.

"For the record," Sam said, "I'd rather eat this meat than be his cousin."

"If it cleans it up, I wouldn't mind that." The trio turned to see Lancer, glaring at them. "You three are in a world of trouble."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny swept some meat off a path, moving his mouth as Lancer spoke in a silent form of mockery.

"Manson!" Lancer called, and Danny mocked. "Pick up that T-bone!"

"With my hands?" Sam said, weakly.

"Foley!" Lancer continued, "Pick up that turfwich!"

"With my hands?!" Tucker gagged.

Dash leaned against a dumpster full of meat. Danny swept the meat past him, hopping over the foot Dash stuck out to trip him. "Dash, cut it out!"

The jock laughed obnoxiously. Danny narrowed his eyes, imagining turning the dumpster intangible. All the meat would fall on Dash. It would be fantastic. But he'd have to clean it all up again. Grumbling about how much he hated the school, Danny turned around and kept sweeping.

A yelp distracted him, and Danny quickly turned back just in time to see Prince pick up the jock and throw him in the dumpster. For a moment, neither said anything. "I don't like that guy," Prince said, and disappeared.

Danny smiled, picking up his broom and continuing to sweep as Dash poked his head out of the meat. "Fenton! A little help?!"

"Hm..." Danny smirked, "No." He kept sweeping.

* * *

Danny you absolute nerd muffin who is also kind of a little bit of a dick. Precious child. Too good for this world, too pure.

So yeah, what do you all think? ^^ My friends have been harassing me to update, and in the end I'm quite proud of this chapter. Then again, this fic is my baby; there's like next to nothing about it I _don't_ like.

So, you know how in canon we have 53 episodes, technically? Yeah I'm not writing all of those. Some because they don't fit in with the story, and others because LoveWritingStories or I despise them. So the next Epichapter looks like it'll be… One of a Kind! Yaaay!

Any and all love for this story is absolutely adored! Any flames however, will be used to hurt Danny.

I'm not even being subtle about causing this child pain anymore. I love me.


	6. One of a Kind

Welcome to Chapter 5; everyone is a nerd and Danny makes bad decisions.

…You know, that phrase might just describe everything I write.

This is a very good chapter and I like it a lot. Enjoy! ^^

**Chapter Warning** for swearing, as usual, and some characters receive pretty bad injuries.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 5;**

"Today on the amazing adventures of Team Tucker Rocks-"

"Tucker, no."

Tucker stuck out his tongue at Danny, "Well do you have a name for our superhero gang?"

"Why are we a gang?"

"Why aren't we a gang?" Sam replied.

"Sam, no."

"Sam yes."

A little ways away, Prince groaned and put his head in his hands. Danny was tempted to copy the ghost's motions.

It had been month since the accident- a fact which Danny had pretended to forget about- and two days since they'd defeated the Lunch Lady. The trio had caught Prince fighting off a snake ghost later that day, and the ghost had let slip that there'd been more. Worried that someone might get hurt, Danny had asked if there was anything they could do to help. Prince had said there wasn't, but underestimated how determined the trio was. Whether Prince liked it or not Danny, Sam, and Tucker were going to help protect the town. Even if that meant Danny had to channel his parents to stop someone from getting hurt.

Well, in secret, of course. It would be _embarrassing_ if his parents found out their son was hunting ghosts. And Jazz would yell at him. And he probably wouldn't be allowed to hang out with Sam and Tucker anymore. And they might hurt Prince, which really wouldn't go well for Danny. But he really didn't mind; it was fun to be a secret superhero. Didn't mean he would devote his life to ghost hunting like his parents had, but it was still really cool.

Danny gasped as his ghost sense came out in a puff, for the seventh time that night, and Prince stood up a little straighter. "One's close by. But I'm not sure-"

"Beware!"

Danny screamed and jumped back, bumping into Sam and Tucker. Prince simply floated up, looking at the ghost with one eyebrow raised. "Was that necessary?"

The ghost, who was blue and in overalls, raised his hands in a motion that was probably supposed to be spooky. "I am the Box Ghost! Master of all things cardboard and square!"

"Y-yeah? Well," Danny stood up a little straighter and glared at the ghost. "I'm Danny Fenton, master of _I don't care!_"

"That's nice," Prince said, and punched the Box Ghost through a wall.

"Ow," Danny whispered, shaking his hand before jumping through the hole in the wall to follow Prince.

"Sweet, more trespassing at the docks." Sam said as she joined him, and Tucker followed a moment later.

"If either of you ever tell my parents we did this," He said, "You're dead to me."

"Noted," Danny took a few steps forward, "Where's Prince?"

A little ways away, there were several grunts before a stack of boxes fell over. Danny winced, hoping no one had heard that. He really didn't want to get arrested.

"I'm no expert," Tucker said, "But I would assume over there."

Sam rolled her eyes, "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"You're welcome, First Mate Vegetables."

"-Power over all things cardboard and square!" The Box Ghost was screaming when the trio reached his side. Danny frowned, glanced at the boxes surrounding him, and hoped the ghost was being dramatic.

"Literally nobody cares," Prince said. "So do yourself a favor and go back into the Ghost Zone!"

"Never!"

"Oh for the love of-" Green energy coated Prince's hands, "Can you just listen to me?! We don't have time to play games! They have a test tomorrow they need to study for!"

"Wait," Tucker said, "We do?"

"Study?" The Box Ghost said, dramatically pointing at Prince. "There will be no time to study when you find yourself crushed beneath the forgotten possessions of-" His hands started to glow. Danny felt Sam pull him and Tucker closer as a similar glow coated the boxes, causing them to float into the air. "Uh, Elliot Kravitz! Of Arlington Heights, Illinois!"

Danny couldn't resist. "Well guys, looks like we're boxed in." Surprisingly, Prince smiled at that. The same could not be said for Sam and Tucker.

The tape around the boxes came undone, revealing the wide assortment of objects inside. Danny didn't get a chance to see exactly what they were, since at the next moment they were all shot at him. Danny turned his friends intangible, and the three watched as it all passed harmlessly through them.

"Oh, thank god," Danny doubted Prince had wanted him to hear that. "I don't have the time to deal with this! You, human!"

Tucker held up the thermos. "What's the magic word?"

The Box Ghost lifted up more boxes, and Prince rolled his eyes. "Please?"

"There we go!" Tucker uncapped it, "Goodnight, everybody!" Danny looked away as the ghost was sucked in, barely paying attention as Tucker said, "Perimeter secure."

"Perimeter secure?" Sam scoffed, "What are you, a Navy Seal?"

"Why would you have seals fight for your country?" Prince asked, "That wouldn't work. Seals aren't good at fighting."

"...Anyway," Danny said, "We should probably stop trespassing before we get in trouble."

"Hold on," Tucker tossed the thermos from hand to hand. "What was that about a test?"

"Yeah," Sam turned towards Prince, "Since when do we have a test?"

Prince frowned, "Your teacher didn't tell you? The one who likes the stupid blonde boy with no leg muscles. You have him first class tomorrow, I think?"

"You know his schedule?" Sam raised her eyebrows as she took a step forwards. "That's really creepy."

"To be fair," Tucker said, "Dead people usually are."

"He has a point," Danny said. "Seriously guys, we need to get out of here."

Tucker had started spinning the thermos on his finger. "Don't worry about it dude, everything's under control." The thermos fell off his finger and crashed to the ground, landing on the 'release' button.

All eight of the ghosts they'd spent their Thursday evening chasing down escaped through the walls, though the Box Ghost looked as if he wanted to stay and taunt them.

"Unbelievable," Prince said, "You just- no. That didn't just happen. There's no possible way anyone could have done something that _stupid-_"

Tucker's phone alarm went off. "Danny, your curfew is fifteen minutes away. We should get going."

"You just undid all that work I did," Prince didn't sound mad, but Danny could feel his fury. "And now you're just leaving?"

"What?" Sam said, "Would you rather Danny's _ghost hunter_ parents tear up the town looking for him because he missed curfew to help you?"

"_Sam,"_ Danny said softly.

"Fine," Prince said, picking the thermos up from the ground. "You should call your group Team Phantom, because I'm the one doing all the work." He disappeared with that.

"Team Phantom," Tucker repeated, leading the way back to the hole in the wall. "That's actually a pretty good name."

"Yeah, whatever," Danny looked over at Sam, "You're not going to get him to be my friend by being mean."

"I don't see why you'd want to be friends with him," Sam replied, "You deserve so much better."

"Yeah, probably," He looked down, realizing he'd started subconsciously playing with the whistle around his neck. "But I still have to live with him."

The trio left and started towards their homes, none of them commenting on the shared feeling that they were being watched.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch had come to the official conclusion that he hated the shapeshifters who occasionally hid in the Time Tower. He really needed to learn how to kick them out. Hourglass knew how to do it; he'd have to ask her to teach him.

Tori had basically trapped him against a wall, and though Stopwatch knew he could easily force her to go away he didn't feel like sitting through another one of Infinite's lectures. Shattering someone's nose _probably_ would be reason enough for one. Maybe. He didn't want to find out.

"So we heard a little rumor from dear old Tempest," Tori said, "That you got yelled at by Tardis' new boyfriend."

Stopwatch made a face, "Ew. I think Infinite would agree, so I'll say it again; ew."

"Infinite?" Arrow- he was _probably_ Tori's boyfriend or something. To be honest, Stopwatch really didn't know- seemed pleased. "Infinite Hour? The Ancient?"

"Wait, the what?"

"You don't know the story?" Tori laughed, "Hey Bridget, he doesn't know about the Ancients!"

"The Timey ghost doesn't know about the Ancients!" The third and thankfully final member of the asshole shapeshifter club laughed. Killing them all was becoming much more tempting, no matter how much trouble he'd get in for it.

"Don't you count as Timey, too?" Stopwatch pointed out, "Or are you just here to bother me?"

Tori didn't bother replying, unfortunately, and instead pulled something from the pocket of her shorts. "Guess what this is, Timey ghost?"

"It's red and it's a liquid," _Fuck,_ "So I'm going to have to say melted ketchup in a teeny vial."

Tori pulled the vial of human blood back, "You can't melt ketchup." A pause, "Arrow, can you?"

Arrow made a face, "Why would you want to?"

"I don't know man, I'm not the one who put it in a vial to show people. But at least it's not something weird, like a bottle cap collection- oh," He grinned at Bridget, "Wait."

"Can I fight him?" Bridget asked.

"In a minute," Arrow said, patting her shoulder.

"Wow," Stopwatch said, "Tori, I know this may come as a shock to you, but your boyfriend and best friend might be doing a little somethin' somethin' with each other."

"Not a boy," Arrow said, "You fucking moron."

_Okay, that's weird. But it's a distraction, and distractions are good. _"What are you, then?"

"I'm a shapeshifter."

"That doesn't explain anything."

"He's a nerd," Bridget elbowed him in the side. _You literally just said he's not a boy?_

"My baes are cheating on me with each other," Tori shook the vial of blood, "Thank you for pointing that out. I never would have been able to continue on without hearing it. I think you should get a reward, what do you-"

"Fuck it," Stopwatch said and stomped on her foot. Tori stumbled back with a squeak of pain. A moment later, Bridget had huge muscles and Arrow was what seemed to be a battle ax.

"That hurt!" Tori said, putting the vial back in her pocket before turning into a wild dog.

_Okay, that plan was flawed. _Stopwatch grinned, raising his hands. "Really? You're going to fight a reality manipulator? Are you _actually_ that fucking stupid?"

A little ways away, there was a low whistle which was followed by the sound of clapping. "Wowie, that was a good show! I'd give you a tip but I forgot my wallet." Infinite walked in, still clapping, and Stopwatch narrowed his eyes. _Great, four shapeshifters._

Tori turned back to her normal form, glaring up at him. "And you are?"

"Infinite Hour," He held out his hand, "I like your tank top. What does it say?"

"What- oh," She looked down at her shirt, "It's Spanish for it is what it is."

"Cool," Bridget and Arrow had gone back to normal, and Stopwatch was watching them with eyebrows raised. "I never learned Spanish, or really any language. I'm like the stereotypical dumb American."

"Oh, you're American?" Bridget moved closer to him, "What state are you from? I'm from California. Arrow's from Brazil and Tori's originally from Mexico."

"Oh, I'm from Michigan!" Infinite was grinning, and Stopwatch was trying to figure out if he was close enough to the door to escape. "Amit- Amate! I'm from a rural town in Michigan called Amate! Definitely not Amity Park. Definitely not. Amate is very small and you have probably never heard of it."

_Oh, he's from Amity Park. That's nice. Dammit Arrow, move so I can leave._

"Relax," Arrow said, "You're a shapeshifter like us. As long as you're not that stupid hybrid, I could care less where you live."

Infinite grabbed the medallion hanging around his neck. "Stupid hybrid, huh?"

Tori cleared her throat. "Hey, nerds," She pointed at Stopwatch, "Maybe talking about that disaster in front of this one isn't a good plan."

"Stopwatch isn't a disaster!" Infinite said, "He's a ghost, there's a difference."

"Yes, keep insulting me," Stopwatch leaned against the wall, "That won't cause you any problems in the long run." _I'm already going to rip out your cores and have them rain down on Tardis, so technically it won't._

Infinite looked between the four of them for a moment before he spoke, "I've got a question for you three. Stopwatch, you can just hang out."

"Shoot," Arrow said as Stopwatch rolled his eyes.

"Why the hell do you think harassing someone like that is okay?"

Stopwatch stood up a little straighter, watching the confused looks the shapeshifters sent each other. "We weren't harassing him," Tori said.

"Bull-fucking-shit. You had him cornered against a wall and don't you think for a second that I didn't see what you have in your pocket. Do you have any idea how much that stuff hurts Timey Ghosts? I doubt it, since otherwise you would've never got some." Infinite held out his hand, "I'm confiscating it."

"Confiscating what?"

"The melted ketchup. What the hell do you think?!"

Stopwatch grinned as Tori handed over the little vial of blood, and the fire in Infinite's eyes disappeared. He looked uneasily at it, fear covering his features.

"I will be telling Clockwork and Tardis about this." Infinite said, "Stopwatch, you can go if you'd like to." He shoved the blood into his hands, "Give this to Hourglass. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to have a nice and long discussion about how what they did was wrong. Now, we'll start at the beginning, since beginnings are rad. Let's say, oh, ten thousand years ago. Since that's when this lovely development was recorded."

Stopwatch smiled as he took it from Infinite, knocking shoulders with Arrow and Bridget as he went. "Have fun, everyone!" _I'll be here, with enough blood to seriously injure someone. Excellent._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Oh my gosh," Jazz rushed into the kitchen, momentarily surprised that her parents were at the table. That passed quickly as she rushed forward, wrapping her arms around her mom. "They said yes!"

"Who said yes?" Danny yawned from where he leaned against the counter with a bowl of cereal. "The person you asked if you were a conceited snob?" A moment later, he flinched, as if someone had poked him.

Jazz decided to ignore her brother. He'd been up talking to himself half the night, it was only natural that he would be a bit moody. "No, Genius Magazine said yes!" She pulled away from Maddie, handing her the reply she'd found surrounded by bills. "They got the letter I sent them in February and they want to put Mom on the cover!" She couldn't contain a scream of delight.

"February?" Danny muttered, "You see Jazz, this is why we don't use snail mail." Again, he flinched.

"Danny, don't tease your sister." Maddie chided, flipping the page over. "Genius Magazine, huh?"

"Genius Magazine?!" Jack pulled it from his wife's hands. "...Is it the swimsuit issue?"

"Uh, Dad?" Jazz rolled her eyes, "Genius Magazine is a magazine for women geniuses, by woman geniuses, and _about _women geniuses. How many times have I told you that? Did you listen to any of them?"

"Ohhhh," Danny spoke up, "So it _is_ the swimsuit issue!" He put a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and promptly choked, nearly throwing his bowl across the counter. "Oh gross, Mom's going to be in the swimsuit issue?"

"Danny," Jack said, "Your sister's getting mad."

"Sorry," Danny coughed, "I might have died a bit there. Will I still have to go to school if I'm dead?"

"Yes."

"Darn."

"Unless you're a ghost," Maddie said, "Then-"

"Can you two _not _talk about ghosts for ten minutes?" Jazz said, snatching the letter back from her dad. "They're going to come on Saturday. This is the perfect chance to show everyone that Danny and I have nice, normal parents, who aren't ghost hunting freaks, and can clearly care for their children!"

Her parents shifted uncomfortably, and Jazz knew she'd hit a nerve. "Jasmine," Maddie said, "That was uncalled for." Jack attempted to hide the invention he'd been working on.

"Dad," Jazz held out her hand, "What is that?"

Looking like a kicked puppy, Jack handed over something Jazz recognized as a mutilated pistol. Danny slunk over to her side, raising an eyebrow. "Is that a gun?"

"It's a Fenton Pistol," Jack said, "One of the many Fentonworks Weapons your mother and I are making for when the ghosts start coming through so we can take them down!"

Danny suddenly looked much more interested, a fact which her parents didn't miss.

"It should be done by this afternoon, sweetie." Maddie said, "You can have it, if you want."

"He most certainly does _not_ want it!" Jazz held the weapon out of her brother's reach, "Danny is _not_ going to bring a gun around with him! I don't care if it was made for ghosts or not, why would you suggest that?!"

"We never said he would be taking it to school," Maddie said, "But if ghosts start appearing and he's out with his friends-"

"I- I don't want the gun, Mom." Danny said, "I have to go catch the bus so uh, bye." He nearly ran out of the house, accidentally slamming the door behind him.

Jazz gathered her stuff and followed him, "I should go too. Have fun building your guns."

"Jazz, wait." Jazz did, halfway out the door. She turned towards Maddie, arms crossed. "I'm sorry, okay, Honey? Your father and I just got over excited." She took Jazz's hand, "When we do the interview for the magazine, I want you with us. I don't want to mess this up if it means so much to you."

Jazz smiled, pulling her mom into a quick hug. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," She pulled back. "Now, have a good day at school."

"I will!" It wasn't until Jazz reached her car that one world in her mother's speech stood out to her- _we._

Her parents were going to do the interview together.

Jazz hit her forehead on the steering wheel and softly cursed. _So close, yet so far._

.-.-.-.-.-.

At the beginning of the term, there'd been a scheduling error and Danny had ended up in an Art class. This wouldn't have been a problem, if he wasn't artistically challenged. And if self portraits weren't literally Satan.

Danny jabbed his pencil at his eraser, missed, and broke his pencil tip on the desk. Beside him, he could hear Prince snicker.

"You're a dick," Danny muttered, just loud enough for the ghost to hear.

"And you can't draw," Prince sounded smug. Danny grabbed his pencil, stood, and made sure to kick the 'empty' chair beside him when he walked by.

The school's art room- which was really just another classroom- thankfully was one of the ones with a working pencil sharpener. It was just on the other side of the classroom. And had _Rebecca_ sitting right in front of it.

Danny fiddled with the pencil as he made his way across the classroom, tapping his fingers on Rebecca's desk. She didn't seem to have headphones in, but didn't look up from her drawing. "Um, Rebecca?" He tapped her sketchbook, "Could you move? I need to use the pencil sharpener."

Rebecca ignored him. The classroom had gone eerily silent, especially considering that the teacher had left.

"Rebecca?" _She's not going to acknowledge me, is she?_ Shrugging, Danny reached over her desk.

Rebecca lifted a hand and caught his wrist, sitting up a little in her chair. "Personal space, Fenton."

"Jeez, fine," He pulled his hand back, "I just-"

"I'm not dealing with you right now," She pointed across the room, "Leave me alone."

"But I just-"

"Go sit down!"

"I-"

"Go!"

"Hey," Across the room, Star- one of the A-list- was rising to her feet. Her friend Valerie was right beside her. "You heard her. Sit down, Fen-"

"I don't know if you guys have realized, but I do have a first name."

"Don't interrupt her while she's speaking!" Valerie snapped, and Danny held up his hands. "Go sit down, Danny."

"You've been interrupting me-"

"Don't try to-"

"For god's sake, I just wanted to sharpen my stupid pencil!" Danny snapped. Something bumped against his hand, and Danny looked back to see that Rebecca had unplugged the pencil sharpener from the wall.

"Here you go," Rebecca said. "Now if you'll excuse me, unlike some people, I have work to do."

"You know," Came a voice from the doorway, "I already knew this classroom was filled with the plastic bitchy girls, you didn't need to prove it when I walked in."

Danny forced a smile as Sam walked in and started to gather his stuff. "Hey, Sam."

"Danny," She said, "Want to come work with me and Tucker in the library away from your asshole classmates who think it's okay to treat someone like shit because he doesn't fit into their cookie cutter image of how someone should act?"

"Um, sure." He smiled, "Okay."

"Hi, Sam." Rebecca said. Sam ignored her. She slung Danny's backpack over her shoulder and grabbed his wrist, dragging him into the hallway.

Prince appeared behind them, frowning. "Scary Girl's friends are almost as bad as she is."

Sam let go of Danny's wrist, "Scary Girl?"

Danny shrugged, "I have no idea. She's someone in our science class, I think. He kept muttering about her while I was doing that stupid pop quiz, and if she's friends with Star and Valerie... any ideas?"

Sam looked thoughtful for a second. "Paulina, maybe?"

Prince shivered.

"Amazing," Danny said, "I've had like two conversations _ever_ with her and I think she's the most amazing woman I've ever seen." He missed Sam's scoff, "Prince has probably awkwardly stalked her for the last month and has dubbed her Scary Girl."

"Well if _Paulina_ is the most amazing woman you've ever seen," Sam said, "You can go hang out with her." She started walking much faster, leaving Danny and Prince behind.

"Wait, Sam!" Danny rushed after her, "That's not what I meant! You don't count!"

Sam ignored him as they entered the library. Tucker had taken a table which was mostly hidden from view and had his laptop out. Sam's was right beside it. "Hey guys. Ready to not do any work?"

Prince appeared, sitting right across from Tucker. "But you're in school."

Sam and Danny sat down on either side of Tucker as their friend leaned towards the ghost. "Who cares?"

Prince looked as if he wanted to say something else, but was forced to go invisible when Mr. Lancer walked around the shelf. "Ah, I thought I saw you three come in here." He adjusted the stack of papers, "I've finished marking your tests, if you'd like to see your grades."

The trio exchanged a look before nodding, "Sure, okay." Danny said, and Lancer pulled three sheets from his pile.

"Miss Manson, excellent job. Mr. Foley, rather impressive considering how much time you spend texting during my class."

"Thank you," Tucker said with a mock bow. "Let me text my mother so she can say thank you as well."

"And Mr. Fenton," Lancer held out the sheet so Danny could see it for a few moments before pulling it back.

_No. _Danny's stomach twisted into a knot. Lancer said something he missed, and as soon as the teacher left, Danny bashed his head down on the table.

"How bad was it?" Tucker asked.

"I got a D!" Danny went to bang his head on the table again, only to be stopped by Tucker's hand. "My parents are going to kill me!"

"So much for the Fentons being a family of geniuses," Tucker said, patting Danny on the back. "At least you have the superhero thing to fall back on."

Danny groaned, "You aren't helping!"

"Well maybe if you had studied," Prince said, "You would've gotten a better mark."

"Oh yes, of course." Danny lifted his head, glaring at the ghost, "Because it's not like I had literally no warning, or that there was a dragon in my basement and then _you_ kept me up until four in the morning looking for her necklace!"

"Uh," Sam said, "Do we want to know the context of that?"

"I'm not leaving an artifact of the Ghost Zone with you," Prince crossed his arms, "Especially a necklace which turns you into a dragon if you lose your temper!"

"Never mind," Sam said, "I _really_ want to know the context of that. But until then," She typed something on her computer, "I can arrange an extra credit assignment to help you bring your grade up. And it'll be on _this_ magnificent creature!" She spun her laptop towards him.

Danny raised an eyebrow, "A... purple-back gorilla?"

"Wait," Tucker said, "Are we in a fantasy novel? Am I going to be magic now?"

"No, Tucker."

"Damn."

"Purple-back gorillas are extremely rare," Sam grinned, "There's only two left, both male. For the longest time everyone thought they were only a color mutation but it turns out they're their own species. One's right here in Amity Park, since his family was killed by poachers when he was a baby. After these two die, they're gone forever. Which is why you are going to prove they deserve to be set free!"

Danny frowned, "I don't have time for extra credit! Or your agendas."

Tucker pulled out his phone, "Actually you do. You just have to learn how to manage it better! That's why I've decided to become your time manager; it's the least I can do after Sam made me let all those ghosts out."

Prince grinned, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, this'll be good."

"_Excuse me?_" Sam sounded furious, "Are you going to blame me for your- Prince Phantom stop laughing at me!"

Prince fell silent and crossed his arms.

"Come on," Tucker continued, "It'll be my job to make sure you can do your school work _and_ catch all those ghosts that S- Prince let loose."

Prince narrowed his eyes, "What."

"You were being creepy and it was distracting."

Prince stood, "You demand to come with me when I clean up this mess his parents caused, but as soon as one of you makes a mistake it's my fault? Do you have _any_ idea of how many ghosts have shown up around you three in the last few weeks? If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead!" He pointed at Danny, "He'd be extra-dead!"

"Oh, please," Danny crossed his arms, "We're not helpless, you know."

"No, you are. If I left you alone for a day you'd probably get stabbed."

Danny took a step forward, "Really? Well I bet we could easily survive without you being there. So why don't we have a little contest to see who's right?"

Prince copied Danny's motions. "What kind of contest?"

"From as soon as school ends to, say, my curfew on Monday, you do your own thing, but stay as far away from us as possible. If I blow the whistle, I forfeit and you win. Or if any of us get hurt bad enough that we need a hospital. If we lose, we'll never go ghost hunting with you again. If we make it to Monday evening then we win and you'll have to do something _we_ decide on." Danny held out his hand, "Do you accept?"

Prince hesitated before grabbing Danny's hand. "Sure, why not? Let's just start right now." They shook hands. "Maybe this'll teach you some self preservation." The ghost disappeared.

"This is going to come back and bite us," Tucker said, "Isn't it?"

"You're my time manager, not my decision manager. That's Sam's job." Danny turned back towards his friends, smiling. "Come on, guys! This'll be great! It's a Prince-free weekend!" His ghost sense went off, and Danny groaned, "Prince, go away!"

There was no reply, and for a few seconds there was awkward silence.

"So..." Sam said, "I'll book us some zoo times, and Tucker can figure out the rest?"

Danny sat back down in his chair, "Don't you guys have work you should be doing?"

Tucker waved a hand, "Don't worry about us. Now, you should sleep so you don't get anymore bad grades today."

"It's the last class of the day."

"So? It's not like you were actually going to do your art thing."

Danny rolled his eyes, "Thanks, but no." He pulled out his laptop and headphones, "I'm going to be productive."

Tucker leaned over just as Danny started typing into the browser, "How is looking up dog vines productive?"

Danny turned his computer away from Tucker, narrowing his eyes. "Don't judge me."

Sam had produced a water bottle from somewhere. "You're both fucking nerds." She took a long sip.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Sam took a bite of the sandwich the zoo staff had left for them, leaning against the counter. "Is it just me, or are these things terrible?"

Tucker pulled the sandwich from his mouth slowly, looking horrified. "_Lettuce._"

"I don't know what the problem is," Danny said, finishing his off. "They taste pretty good to me."

Sam pressed her's into his hands, "You're the only one." She grabbed a pair of binoculars and moved closer to the window. It was barely bright enough that she could still see Sampson, but there he was. "He's so... gifted. So... majestic!" The gorilla lifted a hand to scratch his rear.

From behind her, she heard Danny speak up. "He's scratching his butt again, isn't he?"

"He's grooming himself!"

"Right," Danny said. "And we've been watching him do that for how long, Tucker?"

Tucker yawned, "Six hours- no, she's been watching the monkey scratch his butt for six hours. I've been having a meme war with my friend in Canada and you've been eating a foot salad on whole wheat."

"Wow. Time sure_ flies_ when you're majestically scratching your butt."

"I love how you didn't deny the foot salad thing."

"Stop screwing around," Sam heard her friends shifting, and moving something around. "You're just as smart as your parents, and they made a portal to the afterlife! If you'd just watch him for a little bit, I'm sure you'd find out something about him that nobody else has!"

"I'm not a biologist, Sam." Danny yawned, "And I'm not my parents, either."

"Oh, come on Danny!" Sampson had started messing around with one of the regular gorillas. "Look, you understood your ghost's weird language, maybe you'll be able to figure out his! You should go and try to communicate with Sampson's!" Silence greeted her suggestion. Sam shoved away her unease and pulled back from the binoculars, "Danny? You know, it's really immature to ignore me like this."

Danny and Tucker were lying side by side, arms wrapped around each other. "Shh," Danny mumbled. "Can't talk; we're sleeping."

"You're cuddling."

Tucker pulled his hat over his eyes, "Lies." They moved closer to each other.

"Fine, I'll do it," A wicked grin made its way onto Sam's face as she pulled her phone from her bra. She snapped a picture and made her way outside. That would look wonderful in her scrapbook.

When Sam reached the gorilla enclosure, Sampson was up against what looked like a gate. She ignored the crashing going down a few enclosures over. A little ways away, in a restricted area blocked off by a fence, there was what seemed to be a control panel. _Whoever designed this must have been an idiot._

Sampson was grunting frantically, and Sam moved as close as she could. "What is it, you wondrous being?"

He seemed to point at the control panel.

"Is something wrong?" _I wish I knew what he was saying!_ Sampson, still grunting, rushed at the gate. Sam followed, at last processing what he wanted. "You want out?" He wanted out. _I was right! He does want to be set free!_

Sam pulled herself over the fence and opened the gate. Sampson took off running for the tiger enclosure, and Sam frowned.

"Okay..." She climbed back over the fence, "This might not have been my best idea." _I should probably get back to Danny and Tucker._

After checking to make sure nobody had seen her let Sampson out, Sam moved as fast as she could back towards the building they'd be sleeping in.

When she reached the stairs, one of the windows looked like it was smashed. Sam picked up the pace, rushing up the stairs and yanking the door open. Some sort of metal man with a green fire mohawk and beard was standing over her friends.

"Oh my god," He was looking at her. She could almost see through him, and Sam was reminded of the Lunch Lady. "Dan-" The ghost shot something at her. It wrapped around the lower half of her face, forcing her jaw shut. Sam stumbled back, nearly falling back down the stairs as she tried to rip it off.

"Fascinating," The ghost said, bending over Danny who was cuddling closer to Tucker. "All those tales tell of his power, but all my systems confirm he's-" He was cut off when Sampson jumped through the smashed window and kicked him in the side of the head. The ghost was thrown into a wall, then a desk, while the gorilla pinned him down.

Sam rushed over to Danny and Tucker's sides when the ghost kicked Sampson away, jabbing the two until they woke up. The ghost had disappeared by then and somehow not noticing the _thing_ around Sam's mouth, the boys chose to focus on the gorilla.

"Gorilla- loose-" Tucker had apparently lost the ability to speak.

"How did _that_ get here?" Danny said, standing up and pushing the other two back. "Sam, what did you do?!" Sam, who was still trying to pull the gag off of her face, couldn't reply. "Sam-" He turned back, finally noticing what was on her face. "Crap." He reached up and poked it. Sam took in a huge gulp of air as the gag fell away.

"There was a ghost," She said. "Standing over you. He-"

"A _ghost_ let the gorilla out?"

"Uh..." Well, she wasn't about to say_ no._

Sampson had stopped beating the wall and was watching them curiously.

"Run?" Danny asked, turning them invisible.

"Run," Tucker agreed. Screaming, startling Sampson, and clinging to each other the trio took off down the stairs.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Okay no," Time Turner let the couch fall to the ground, very aware of Tempest's annoyed huff as he shook out his hands. "Why do we have to carry this the human way? We're ghosts! We have superpowers!"

"And you have weak noodle arms," Tempest said, "So lift up the damn couch. It's not that much farther, anyway."

Time Turner rolled his shoulders back before bending down to pick up the couch once again. "So what, are we actually doing a party or something tonight?"

"Clockwork and Tardis won't stop fighting and it's pissing me off. So, yes." She led them around a corner, "Set it down here."

Time Turner was more than happy to drop the couch. "What do you mean? I haven't heard them."

She scoffed, "Yeah, and that's probably for the best. 'Tardis, just tell me what's going on! Secrets are bad!' 'You know who else kept secrets? _Castalia._' 'You know who kept secrets about Castalia? Time Twister.' And then they scream. The quotes aren't exact but in the end you know what I'm talking about. So I'm going to force them to spend time together and be civil," She grinned, "Or they'll face my wrath."

"Okay. Because that statement wasn't creepy in the least," He frowned, "This is a horrible set up for a dinner thing."

"Give me a minute," The area in front of them was open, filled with couches and tables they'd brought down. It was shaped similar to a triangle, with doors branching off from every side. The entrance was the only door at the triangle's base, while the kitchen was the only door at the tip. Time Turner had seen it hundreds of times, but he couldn't figure out why his friend was staring so intently at it. "Pick a number between one and three."

"What?"

"Bitch you heard me."

"Um… two point four."

Tempest nodded, "That could work. Nice blend of their tastes and a bit of leg room… kind of sucks for eating. But hey, you made the final choice." She snapped her fingers.

The room took on a faint glow for a moment before the assorted chairs and tables teleported into a diamond shape. "You were going to do that and you still made me lift things?"

"Holy _shit,_" Infinite had appeared from somewhere and seemed fascinated by the room. "That was so cool! When I get my new apartment, you need to help me move. I won't have to put anything away!"

"Yeah, no," Tempest clasped her hands behind her back, her voice dropping into a monotone drawl. "Fuck you."

"Fair enough."

"Still letting everyone tap dance over your wants, are you?"

"Tempest, your socializing privileges have been revoked." Time Turner stepped forward, putting on a smile. "Hey Infinite, want to help us set up for Clockwork's birthday?"

"Whoa, whoa," Infinite held up his hands, "You're telling me it's Clockwork's _birthday_ and nobody thought to tell me? Never mind the fact that ghosts have birthdays, because like, that threw me off for a second- Oh jeez, that's what Tardis was cooking all that food for! Aw, she does care!" His eyes went wide, "I need to get a gift. I'll be right back." He teleported away.

"Wow," Tempest sounded mildly impressed, "You got rid of him in record time. I'm impressed."

"I didn't even do it intentionally," He grinned back at her, "Did we have any bets going for that?"

"Nope. Still nice, though."

Something seemed to hit the walls, causing the both of them to jump. A moment later, Infinite entered with a package wrapped in little snowmen. "Who wants to sign my card?"

Tempest raised an eyebrow, "You have got to be kidding me."

"Surprisingly, no," Infinite quickly reached their sides, "So, why are ghost birthdays a thing? What if you don't remember your birthday? Because like, I've heard post-death amnesia is a thing until something triggers your memories-"

"Are you actually this stupid," Tempest said, "Or do you think this fuckery is amusing? No, ghosts don't celebrate their birthdays unless they want to. It's an amazing, optional thing! We celebrate Time Turner's, Hourglass', and mine. Clockwork gets food which we force him to eat. He doesn't get gifts, because he fucking hates them. Now, burn that or something."

"Uh," Infinite looked at the gift, "That's kind of the point."

Time Turner rolled his eyes and pulled the present away from Infinite, throwing it under a table. "There. Now that we've dealt with that issue, let's take a seat and pretend all is well in the world."

Infinite shrugged and made his way towards the chairs. "So why are we doing it so late at night?"

"We have to catch Clockwork by surprise," Time Turner explained, "Otherwise he gets mad and leaves. Hourglass will bring him down soon, we hope."

"Ick, mad Clockwork." Infinite wrinkled his nose, "That doesn't sound fun."

"You haven't even seen Clockwork when he's pissed off," Tempest said, "You've seen him when he's stressed and you're being an irritating prick. Which seems like your normal state."

"Tempest," Time Turner said, "Your socializing privileges are now extra revoked."

"Bite me, Tyler."

Infinite pulled out his cell phone. "Kinky."

It was at that exact moment that Clockwork entered from somewhere, Hourglass floating a step behind him. "I don't suppose I want to know the context of that conversation, do I?" He looked over them for a moment, _"No."_

Tempest tapped Time Turner's knee three times before they, in sync, turned towards the kitchen. "Oh Tardis!"

The door squeaked open as the 'host' of their party stuck her head out. "What? I-" She looked at Clockwork, then at the set up in the middle of the room. "What the fuck did you all do?"

"I'm leaving," Clockwork said, and Time Turner shifted himself as Tardis dashed across the room to his side.

"You most certainly are not!" She stepped in front of him, glaring up at Clockwork. "You're going to sit down-" Tempest snapped her fingers again and food appeared on the central table, along with assorted plates. "-And we are going to have a nice dinner. I did not just spend the last four days getting everything in order for you to be a little-"

Sensing an approaching argument, Time Turner stood. "You know, Clockwork, she hasn't eaten or rested for the last week. And as the only one here with official medical knowledge, I can confirm for a ghost with her power levels that not letting her core rest like that is a very, very bad thing." He sat back down. Tempest gave him a hidden fist bump.

"Tardis," Clockwork said, "Sit down and eat something."

Tardis crossed her arms, "You first."

"Tardis-"

"Clockwork," She replied, "It's been longer for you. I won't eat until you do, and I won't rest either. Not sit down and eat your stupid raisin cookies."

"Raisin cookies?" He moved to one of the empty couches and sat down.

Tardis sat down beside him and sat a large plate of cookies in his lap. "Here, enjoy your lying chocolate chips." Infinite grinned.

For a few minutes, everything was peaceful. Hourglass sat down on the empty couch and downed some sort of meat and pasta dish. Clockwork and Tardis, for the first time in a long time, had a somewhat civil conversation. Granted, it was mostly small talk, but they weren't arguing. Hourglass made a couple of muttered jokes in a language Time Turner didn't understand. But Tempest had laughed at them, so they must have been pretty good. It was nice.

"Hey, um," Infinite said, "Where's Stopwatch? He loves food, why isn't he here?"

So naturally, Infinite had to ruin it.

Everyone else automatically made sure they had their mouths full, throwing Time Turner under the bus and leaving him to explain it. "It's late Friday night," He said, "He's off doing his thing." _And maybe this time that asshole won't come back._

Infinite frowned, "What sort of thing?"

"Training," Hourglass spoke up, causing everyone to turn to her. "Like he does every weekend. He'll come back Saturday afternoon."

"Saturday…" His eyes went wide, "So last weekend, and when I first came here- oh god, I probably knew, too, it just didn't fully register. Oh god." He stood, walking towards the door, "Come on, we need to- why aren't any of you moving?"

"He'll come back," Tempest said, "We just enjoy our Stopwatch free time."

That was, evidently, not the right thing to say. Infinite turned back to them, fire in his eyes. "What is wrong with you? All of you!" He took a step forwards, "You don't like him, or you're scared. I can understand that. But that is no reason to stand by while he's getting hurt! Are you all so caught up in your own existences that you can't stop for a moment to help out someone who's being hurt? He's like what, fifteen? Are you honestly so blinded by hatred that you're going to let a teenager keep going back to someone who's hurting him?! Tardis told me that this is the only safe place, that if you're a Timey ghost and you're anywhere else the Observants are _allowed_ to kill you. I know how this goes."

"Would you look at that," Tardis said calmly, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to snap-"

"Don't you dare," Infinite hissed, "Don't try to change the subject like that. And don't pretend you're like _that_ to everyone, because this whole dinner thing proves you all are capable of giving two shits about someone besides yourselves. All of you. You just don't. Why? I don't know, I'm not a mind reader. But this has got to change. I don't care what you think he's done to deserve this, and I don't care what you know. But I refuse to believe he's going there willingly. I'm going to find him and bring him back before he gets hurt. Just because you're all too caught up in your own little worlds to care doesn't mean I am. And no matter what, I will _never _stand by and let someone be hurt when I know I can help them. That is a philosophy you should all consider adopting." He slammed the door when he left.

Time Turner frowned, taking stock of everyone around him. Clockwork had been oddly silent, and was still looking at the door. Tardis was similar, though she seemed shocked while Clockwork had no emotion on his face. Hourglass was hiding her face and seemed to be shaking. Tempest, however, had a huge grin.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," She said, grabbing some sort of cheese pastry. "But I like him."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Between the staff checking on them, stress, the fact a ghost had somehow sicced the gorilla on them, and how he'd spent hours waiting for the ghost to come back Danny didn't get much sleep that night. Tucker's Mom had given the trio a ride back to his place the next morning, and Danny had caught her giving them many concerned looks.

Danny pulled his key from his pocket. "I picked a horrible weekend to make this bet."

"Dude," Tucker said, "It's not like you could have known you were going to get stalked by the robot of death."

"Really?" Sam said, "That's what we're calling him?"

"Unless we can think up a shorter pun from stalker or something, yes." Danny unlocked the door, took a single step into the house, and was automatically pulled into a bear hug by his dad.

"Danny! So good to see you!" Something was shoved in the back of his shirt. It felt like a box. "Did you enjoy your extra credit? Just as smart as your mother, you are!" He lowered his voice, "Don't open it until you're where your sister can't see." He pulled back, leaving Danny confused and trying to catch the box before it slid out of his shirt. Some lady was sitting next to his mom, and Danny faintly recalled his sister's screams from the day before.

"Danny, look at you!" Maddie said, "I'm not sure I like this overnight zoo research."

"Mom, c'mon!" Tucker pulled the box out of Danny's shirt, "We're just a bunch of kids. In the zoo. At night. Alone."

"Getting attack by a g-" Sam put her hand over Tucker's mouth before he could finish that sentence.

Danny coughed, "We'll be in my room." He nearly ran up the stairs.

"Well, that was weird." Tucker handed Danny the box, "No time like the present, right? So open yours."

"That joke was horrible," Danny pulled the top off the box as Sam looked over his shoulder. "Oh great, it's that."

Sam leaned back, "Is that a gun? Did your dad give you a gun?! _Danny!_"

"Dude," Tucker said, "Not cool."

"It's a ghost gun- Fenton Pistol, whatever." Danny said, moving towards his door. "And it's going to get buried in my closet where no one can ever-" His ghost sense cut him off. "What are the chances that's Prince?"

"Whoever it is," Tucker said, "We have to be at the library in twenty minutes and we're walking."

"Okay, new plan," Danny said, "We throw our stuff in my room and then we run. Any objections?" His friends shook their heads, and Danny hesitated for a second before opening his door.

There was no one in his room.

"Huh," He stepped inside, "Apparently my ghost sense is a lying-" The door slammed behind him and Danny jumped. "Guys, that's not funny."

There was a faint buzz beside him and a voice whispered in his ear. "Hello, Warrior Boy."

Danny turned, yelped, and threw the box at the ghost in front of him. It bounced harmlessly off to the side. "To be fair, I didn't actually think that would work." _Thermos, thermos..._ Sam had the thermos. Sam was outside. _Crap._ Laughing nervously, Danny dove for the Fenton Pistol only to find himself caught in the net the ghost had shot at him.

"All the legends tell of your strength," The ghost said as Danny tried to move into a less uncomfortable position, "It appears they were exaggerated. This has been one of my easiest captures; how disappointing."

_Nope. Nope nope nope nope._ Winning the stupid contest was not worth this. This was not worth his life. Danny shifted some more, trying not to panic and failing. "Listen," He said, trying to figure out how he'd managed to get both his arms pinned underneath him. "You have the wrong guy. If- if you let me go, then we can pretend this-"

"Don't expect your words to sway me like they did the queen," The ghost cut him off.

"F-fine, whatever," _I have no idea what you're talking about._ "Then answer this question- who are you?!"

"I am Skulker," Apparently dead punk robots could do creepy grins; who knew? "A collector of things rare and unique. And you, Warrior Boy, between your status as a Natural Halfa and your immunity to royal barriers, are that and more." He laughed, and Danny tried to breathe normally as he felt something similar to pins and needles creep through him.

Danny wrenched one arm free, bending his wrist back a bit farther than it should've gone but managing to grab the whistle. "You might want to check your facts. Here, this should help." He brought the whistle up to his mouth and blew.

The net was pulled back, and Skulker stumbled back. Danny stood ready to direct Prince towards the problem the second the ghost showed up, anyway. Team Phantom could be reinstated once they knew what they were doing.

Half a minute had passed before Skulker got himself back under control, and Danny was still waiting. Prince should crash through the roof, like he always did; get annoyed, like he always did; deal with the problem, like he always did...

But he didn't. The realization sunk in as the pins and needles came back full force, and Danny grabbed the Fenton Pistol. Hands shaking and gut twisting, Danny aimed. "My name is Danny Fenton, not Warrior Boy. Who would name their kid that?" It occurred to Danny that if he fired the gun it would likely explode. It was his father's invention, after all. They didn't have the best track record.

"Your hands are shaking," Skulker said.

"Yeah," Danny licked his lips, attempting to hold the gun steady. "I should probably say that I have no idea what I'm doing but hey, might as well bite the bullet and take a shot." He pulled the trigger.

Danny didn't know that much about actual guns. He would have been fine if he had lived his life never even seeing one. But he was almost certain that they was supposed to fire bullets, not a bright red oval of death which could, apparently, punch a hole the size of his thumb through Skulker's right arm.

Then again, he wasn't really complaining.

"Goodbye," He said, gripping the Fenton Pistol and diving intangibly through the door. Sam and Tucker rushed to his side, helping Danny to his feet. "Sam, get the thermos ready. As it turns out, punk _is_ dead."

She raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"It's either I make bad jokes or panic, so, yes." Danny aimed the gun at his door, his entire body shaking now. "He's going to come through that door soon."

"Should I get your parents?" Tucker asked.

"Maybe, I don't-" Skulker did not come through the door, and instead attacked Danny from the side. A bright green knife shot out from part of his wrist, and Danny found himself trapped against the wall.

"As amusing as this is," Skulker said, "I prefer it when my prey actually fights instead of running like a coward."

"Hey!" Danny poked him with the gun, "I'm not a coward, I'm _smart._ So you know what?" He turned himself intangible and started to slip through the floor, "Come get me!"

Danny landed roughly beside the table, somehow not breaking any bones. He rolled under the table as Skulker appeared, and held up his gun. He didn't really have a plan at this point, aside from shoot the ghost and let his parents handle the rest. If Prince didn't want to help him, then the ghost could have fun dealing with his parents.

Danny pulled the trigger once again, aiming at Skulker's foot. The gun replied by making an uncomfortable clicking noise.

_Did it only have one shot? Dad!_ The collar of his shirt dug into his neck, and Danny sucked in a breath of air as he was pulled through the table. His feet dangled just above the table as Skulker grabbed him by the neck. "Come, Warrior Boy, time to see your new home."

Danny could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and in panicked attempt to free himself he threw the gun.

As it turned out, throwing his only actual weapon was a horrible, _horrible _plan. It sailed harmlessly by Skulker while the ghost pulled him through the floor. "What are you _doing?!_" Danny shouted, trying to kick the robotic ghost. Pain shot through his toes, and Danny wished he hadn't taken off his shoes.

"Bringing you back to my world," Still holding Danny by his neck- which made it extremely difficult to breathe- Skulker moved towards the portal. "Where I can put you on display. But don't worry; as soon as I find your little friend he'll join you."

_Prince?_ _Is that why he was asking all those ghosts who sent them? Did Prince know Skulker was coming? Did he only agree to the stupid contest to save himself? Stupid ghost, stupid, stupid- _Skulker had said something else Danny missed, too busy caught in his own thoughts. He could hear the portal buzzing behind him, and Danny sucked in a huge breath of air.

"Prince Phantom, come deal with this ghost! I- I forfeit!"

Skulker stopped, "What did you just say?"

"Does it matter?" _Prince, where are you..._ "He's going to come kick your butt really soon! I ordered him to, he doesn't have a choice-" Skulker threw him to the ground, a gun sprouting from the arm Danny had shot.

"You speak so carelessly about the pain you have inflicted," The ghost said, "And use his name for your ridiculous cause. Do you have any remorse at all?"

"For what?" Danny forced himself to his feet, "I haven't even done anything! You're the one who wants to kidnap a teenage boy! Could you _get_ any creepier?! And-" Skulker, who seemed to have developed a grudge against letting Danny finishes his sentences, punched him in the gut. Danny fell back, barely a few inches away from the portal and feeling as if he was about to throw up.

"I was considering being gracious with your confinement," Skulker said, and Danny sucked a breath in. He felt like he was lying on a bed of nails. "But now I see how little you deserve. Your cage will be the smallest one I possess." He aimed the gun again and fired.

Danny flinched, hiding his face and closing his eyes. He heard the gun charge up, hit something, and what sounded like Tucker swearing. But the pain he was expecting never came.

Danny opened his eyes to see Sam standing in front of him, a broken ghost shield generator at her feet. Tucker was a little ways away, looking through drawers with a burn mark on the wall behind him. "Cages," She said, "Are wrong! Right, Danny?"

"Uh..." Danny moved away from the portal, "Yes?" _I really hate the lab._

"Think about how you felt when he told you," She said, "Now how do you think _Sampson_ feels having to live his life in a cage?"

"But-" Skulker said.

"He's a beautiful animal," Sam shouted, "And deserves to roam free!"

"I-"

Sam jabbed her finger into his face, "-Should be ashamed!"

Danny sat up a little straighter, "You sure you still want to kidnap me? 'Cause she won't leave you alone if you do."

"Also," Tucker said, throwing something across the room, "He already let the gorilla out. He doesn't need to suffer through your speech."

"Gorilla?" Skulker said, "Why would I have let that creature out?"

"Because he's-"

"In other news," Tucker said, pulling what looked like a t-shirt launcher out from under a table, "I have no idea what this does!" He pulled the trigger, shooting out a net which wrapped around Skulker's arm.

Danny looked up at Sam, and the duo started banging their fists on their legs as they chanted their friend's name.

"Tucker! Tucker! Tucker!"

"You got this dude!" Danny shouted, and Sam moved to his other side.

"Throw him in!" She called.

Tucker gave a small bow, and hesitated for a moment which Skulker used to try and pull the net off. It shocked him in reply. "Um... oh!" Tucker pushed a button which pulled the net- and the ghost- back, knocking Tucker over.

Danny groaned and smashed his palm to his face, hissing in pain a moment later. "Ow," He muttered, closing his eyes, "My nose."

Skulker was saying something that Danny didn't fully catch, but Tucker replied to it and yelped in pain a moment later.

Danny opened his eyes and pulled his hand away from his face just in time to see Skulker blast him with the same thing that had been on Sam's mouth last night- _ectoplasm. It's ectoplasm. Oh god get it off get it off get it off-_ Danny sucked in a breath of air as the ectoplasm wrapped around his wrists and ankles. The pins and needles was back, and he was starting to feel lightheaded. _I can't breathe. I can't breathe._

"Way to go, Tucker," Sam said, "You just made the bad guy _more_ bad!"

Tucker shrugged, "How was I supposed to know my phone was ghost compatible?"

Skulker moved towards Danny, who flattened himself against the wall. "Say goodbye to this world, Warrior Boy. For this is the last you'll ever see of-" The alarm on Tucker's phone went off, and Skulker stopped. "What?" He looked at the phone, which Danny could clearly see was part of his wrist. Beads of sweat trailed down his forehead as Sam grabbed his arm. "Go to- what, no! I'm not doing that!" What almost looked like wings from a plane sprouted from his back and the ghost shot intangibly through the roof.

Danny blinked, the pins and needles receding. "I... okay." The ectoplasm around his wrists and ankles disappeared.

"What happened?" Sam asked, helping Danny up. "Are you okay?"

"No," He took a deep breath in as Tucker joined them, "No I am not okay! Who was that?! Who the heck is Warrior Boy?! What's going on- and where was Prince?!"

"Danny," Tucker pointed to his nose, "You're, uh..."

Danny made an annoyed noise and attempted to stop his nosebleed. "I hate everything. He's going to come back. He's going to come back and he's going to kidnap me or kill me or _worse-_"

"Danny, breathe," Tucker said, "We'll figure this out, okay?"

"Yeah," Sam put a hand on his shoulder, "We won't let him hurt you."

Danny nodded and started out of the lab. "I hate it in here," He muttered.

His family and the lady with him met Danny when he entered the kitchen and was just about to start shoving tissues up his nose. "I thought you were in your room," His mom said. Jazz looked as if she was about to kill him. "What did you come downstairs for, Sweetie?"

Danny looked back at Sam and Tucker before pulling his hand away from his nose, letting them see the blood on it. "At the moment? Bleeding."

His parents rushed to his side, and Danny didn't miss the look of fury on his sister's face. He did however, miss the one of curiosity from the woman beside her.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"I think it's time you ran another errand, Kid."

Stopwatch let down his shield, raising his eyebrows. "Really?" He threw the shield back up a second later, barely blocking the blue blast in time.

"Have I taught you nothing?" He clicked his tongue, "Why would you _ever_ let your guard down near me?"

"Sorry," Stopwatch muttered, teleporting to avoid an attack from behind. His foot dug into the back of his teacher's duplicate, which disappeared a moment later. "What do you want me to do?"

"Hang out with your little friend," Stopwatch turned towards him, distracted just enough that another duplicate managed to catch him off guard. The other ghost continued speaking, showing no care for the teenager with ectoplasm staining his sleeves. "Follow her when she goes to one of those _Royal Sympathizer_ meetings and report back exactly what they know. Every detail; we'll have another source nearby, so we'll know if you leave anything out."

It was a test. Another of the loyalty tests- Stopwatch _hated _those. They were boring. "Is that all?" A rope wrapped around his wrist, pulling Stopwatch to the floor.

"Don't get smart with me, Kid." He said, "This is-" A green blast hit him in the side.

"…Okay," Stopwatch whispered, watching as the older ghost teleported and left a duplicate in his place. The reality manipulation was heavy enough that Stopwatch could feel it now, and the other ghost was gripping his shoulder tightly. It hurt. "What's-"

"Shut up," The other ghost hissed, "One more word from your mouth and I'm breaking all your fingers."

Stopwatch clamped his jaws shut, still confused. _What's going on?_

The answer came in a blast of black energy- something Stopwatch had _never_ seen before- which threw them against the wall. "Okay Blurry, beating you up and all is nice, but I've got a rescue mission to complete."

Stopwatch smacked his palm to his face.

"Silent type, huh?" Infinite coated his hands in green energy- _no! That's too weak you won't be able to do any damage-_ "How about we change that to fist-in-the-face type?" The duplicate burst when he struck it. "Wow, that's just sad. I am disappoint. 'Cause that's totally my name now." He stretched, looking around. "Are we done now?"

The ghost beside him let go of Stopwatch's shoulder, "Do _not_ move," He said. He cleared his throat, and when he spoke again it was in Modern Ghost. "Who are you?"

"Wow, a spooky voice from above," Infinite muttered, looking around. "That's not _remotely_ suspicious. Name's Infinite; as in the amount of ass kickings you'll get once I find you. And you?"

Stopwatch, who was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his teacher- who had completely refused to let him speak in Modern Ghost- knew the language, was even more confused with the reply he gave. "Steven. What are you doing in my home?"

"Right, and I'm secretly Mark Zuckerberg." Infinite rolled his eyes, "You know what I'm doing."

"No, I do not." Stopwatch didn't either; that had to be a fake name. Hedidn't even know what the ghost's name was!

"Congratulations, you're a liar and an asshole. I'd give you a prize but I don't think a giant butt would fit in with the minimalist design you've got going on here. So let's cut to the chase, alright buddy?" Infinite was glaring at one empty corner of the room, "Where the hell is Stopwatch?"

He was dead. Infinite Hour was going to get his ass kicked into the next century. "I know no Stopwatch."

"Lies, lies, diet fries." A pause, "You know, that sounded funnier in my head."

_So very dead. So very, extremely dead. Extra dead._ "I assure you, it was never amusing."

"Jeez, I thought you were pretending to be Time Twister not Queen Mary." That hit a nerve, apparently. Stopwatch watched as the ghost beside him pulled back. "What? You thought I didn't know about Time Twister? I'm Infinite Hour, bitch, I know my things. So let's do this again; where's Stopwatch?"

The ghost beside him was speaking in Ancient Ghost again. "Congratulations, Kid. Remember how you said you wanted him gone?" His fingers twitched, and Infinite looked as if someone had smacked him. He gave his wrist a strange look before falling to the ground. He made a pained noise and tried desperately to pull his hand off the ground. "Looks like you'll be getting your wish."

Infinite was staring in their general direction now. He had a tiny smile which was barely visible on his lips. "Wow. Gibberish. That's very convincing of your innocence, and also why I will now blow up your home." He had a wide grin now, and sparks shot from his fingers. "Buh-bye!"

"Shit," He cursed, "This is going to-" Infinite disappeared into a puff of green ectoplasm.

Stopwatch watched as the other occupant of the lair entered, dragging Infinite behind them. They dropped him on the ground, and spoke calmly. "Mind telling me why you spent your time messing around with a duplicate instead of dealing with our dear friend here, Hun?"

Stopwatch took a step away from the first, who wasn't looking at the second. "Could we do this later?"

The second stepped to the side, motioning to the apparently unconscious Infinite. "Just kill him already. I don't want you bothering me while I working, am I understood?"

The first nodded and coated one of his hands in dark red ectoplasm. Stopwatch took another step back, not wanting to risk any hitting him. You could tell the strength of ectoplasm by its colour, and red was the strongest there was. To have it even brush against him would end badly. And Infinite was probably going to get his arm blown off because of it or- _Hourglass is going to be upset._

Stopwatch shook his head, trying to throw the thought away.

_She likes him. She'll be upset. It'll be your fault. And what will happen when Tardis finds out you let her friend die? What will she do to you? She can hurt you, like she said she would. And Clockwork… you're lucky he's let you live this long. He won't let this slide. You go back there after this and you're dead._

"How long do you intend to stand there doing nothing?"

"I'm preparing myself. I haven't killed anyone in a really long time-"

"Stop. You embarrass yourself enough by existing; you don't need to add emotions into the mix. Either kill him, or step back and let me."

_He dies I lose everything._ "Wait!" Stopwatch moved between them just as the first fired. Stopwatch screamed and held up his hands, hoping desperately that his shield would be enough to spare most of the blast.

It wasn't.

Stopwatch hit the ground and skid, ectoplasm trailing from he'd bit his lip a little too hard. More ectoplasm coated his hoodie, and his palms were stinging. _What just happened?_

"Oh," The first said, frowning. "You…" _I'm dead. _"…You melted my attack." _Extra dead. Super ultra mega- why hasn't he hurt me yet?_

"Fascinating," The second said, "It turns out that thing might be useful after all. I'd be impressed, if it hadn't taken so long to reach this point."

Stopwatch frowned. Was… was that a compliment? He couldn't tell. And the amount of ectoplasm on his clothes was honestly disgusting. _Ew. Ew it's all over me ew ew ew!_

"Uh, well," The first- _this doesn't make sense. This never makes sense. I should stop… it's on my t-shirt. Ew, ew, ew-_ seemed concerned, and was speaking softly. Stopwatch inched back, not stopping until his fingers were digging into the fabric of Infinite's cloak. "You can just… take your friend and go, then. Same time next-"

"Are you honestly doing what I think you're doing?" The second said, not quite as calmly as before. "After that stunt he pulled, you intend to let him leave?" There was a knife in their hand. _Where did that come from?_ Stopwatch moved back as they moved forwards, holding Infinite's limp wrist tightly.

"What…" His voice failed him, trailing off as the ghost knelt down in front of him. Stopwatch was pressed against Infinite now, leaning back as far as he could.

"Oh come now," They were talking to him directly. _You never do that._ A hand came onto Stopwatch's chin, holding his head in place. "You've shown us what side you're loyal to; why not show everyone else as well?" Stopwatch tried to pull away. The ghost pulled his face closer to their own, grinning. "Don't struggle; if you cause me to make a mistake, I'll just do it again, and again, until I get it right. And every extra mark I have to put on you… I'll make sure goes on your precious little friend as well. I'm sure Tardis and Clockwork would simply _love_ to see those marks on her face."

_Hourglass. _Stopwatch held onto Infinite a little bit tighter and forced himself to be still.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"We'll be _fine,_ Sam."

Danny wished he could share Tucker's optimism. On the other end of the Skype call, Sam seemed to share similar opinions.

"Still, I'm really sorry my stupid parents wouldn't let me go back to your house, Tucker. Your Dad really freaked out my mom."

"Ah, racism," Tucker frowned, "I see why you hate her."

"She's not normally bad like that, I swear!" Sam narrowed her eyes, "We're Jewish, so you'd think she'd know not to be an asshole. Trust me; I _will_ be making sure she knows that's not cool. Danny, if you think that ghost is coming back- or if Prince shows up- call me, and I'll be there. Okay?"

"Okay, Sam."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Awwwww," Tucker cooed and Danny smacked him with a pillow. Tucker laughed as he rolled off his bed, thankfully not taking his computer with him.

It had been Sam's idea to hide Danny at Tucker's to make it harder for the ghost to find him. It was working, apparently, judging by the fact that they hadn't seen Skulker since this morning. Besides, Sampson was in isolation after his 'escape attempt' anyway. "You too, Sam; stay safe."

Sam nodded, looked to her left, and grinned. "Got to go; parents are back. Time to rip them to shreds."

"Record it!" Tucker said, popping back up onto his bed. "I want to hear this." Sam nodded and ended the call.

"Ah, fighting," Danny muttered, "Sounds fun."

"In this case, yeah." Tucker pointed to his laptop, "I found a web cam for the zoo where the other one is. Watch that for a while, I'm going to tell my mom I lost my phone." He hopped off the bed and out of the room.

Danny rolled his eyes and brought up the web browser. Apparently, this gorilla was named Noah, and he was just as boring as Sampson was, though more bossy.

Danny tried to focus on the gorilla, he really did, but after a minute his mind began to wander. _Who even is Warrior Boy?_ It was a long shot, and probably wouldn't even work, but still Danny opened up another tab and typed the name in.

He was honestly surprised when he read the title of the first result. _'Warrior Boy in Amity Park?'_

Danny clicked on it, ending up on someone's blog. He frowned, reading the top of the page. '_Kathrine Archer and her boyfriend, Liam Rand, travel around the country finding the truth behind assorted conspiracy theories, urban legends, and supernatural myths. In recent years they have been joined by Lewis James-'_ Danny sat up a little straighter, not bothering to finish. "Lewis?" He scrolled down, finding the post he'd been looking for. Apparently it had been posted a couple weeks ago.

'_Oh. My. God! My lovely believers, when I came here in search of information on the story of Olivia Marshall, I did not expect I'd find such an amazing center for ectoplasmic energies! So many Natural Halfas, and even a spirit! Not a Flicker, a fully ectoplasmic structured ghost! And- this is the good part, so you'd better be paying attention- he appears to be under the control of a human. When Lewis told me that, I nearly spilt my tea! He talked of leashing and other possibilities for how they could be together, but my thoughts were on another train. What other story has a white haired ghost being controlled by a black haired human? That's right, the Time War. The tale of Warrior Boy and Dark has come to life in Amity Park. So many possibilities, ranging from Infinite Hour to reincarnation. My dears, I have stumbled onto something magical._

_Unfortunately, I've been ordered to stumble away from it._

_Lewis talks of the darkness that surrounds these two, and refuses to elaborate on exactly what it is. He talks about a calamity which is following them, that despite the human being a quite powerful Natural Halfa he has no ability to sense the impending doom. I ask that you pray to the Powers Above for the safety of these two boys, because I'm certain that the moment they're apart disaster will destroy them.'_

Danny sat up a little straighter, rolled his shoulders, and sighed. "Well, that was a waste of time." He closed the tab and went back to staring at Noah the purple-back gorilla. _What's taking Tucker so long?_

Noah seemed to be arguing with one of the other normal gorillas about food or something. Not having anything better to do, Danny watched the motions intently. A moment later, one of the other gorillas shot out and tackled the one who had angered Noah. Noah watched them fight for a moment before he started eating.

_What was that, gorilla code for come fight for me? Weird. _Danny slid off of Tucker's bed and opened the door. "Hey, Tuck, where'd you go?"

His friend entered the hallway a moment later, two bags of chips and a jug of pop in his arms. "I return!" Danny moved to help him carry the snacks. "I'm pretty sure it's all salt free. If not then Prince can suffer, so it's win-win. Did the gorilla do anything interesting?"

"Nope," Danny said, opening a bag of chips and sitting back down on Tucker's bed. "Nothing. Wanna watch movies instead?" He turned back to the laptop, where the livestream was now made up of Noah's leg. _Lovely- wait a minute._ Danny screeched, scrambling back off the end of Tucker's bed and spilling chips over himself.

Tucker looked between Danny and the laptop for a moment before bending over laughing.

.-.-.-.-.-.

The young man who was currently posing as Infinite Hour felt as if he was about to throw up. Eyes were peeled open as he groaned, rolling onto his side. "Jesus Christ," He muttered, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. "Ow, okay… this is bad…" He could feel a lump and a scab on his head. _Great._ That would be fun to clean up. But other than that, he didn't seem too injured. _But I was trying to rescue Stopwatch… I put his ectoplasmic signature into my mom's, uh, tracker-thingy and used that to follow him… which is still on my wrist. Good, good… I sent a duplicate ahead when stuff got sketchy but something hit me… now I'm in the middle of nowhere?_

There was a quiet noise beside him. Infinite rolled onto his other side to see Stopwatch sitting there, his legs pulled close and the hoodie pulled over them. His sleeves, stained from what looked like a failed blast, hung limp and empty at his sides. The hood was up, and Infinite slowly raised an eyebrow.

"Are you hiding in your hoodie?" Okay, bad conversation starter. He probably should be more concerned. He blamed the head injury. And the fact that he was talking to a guy who had tried to kill him- _no no no be nice. You're nice. People like nice people so be nice._

Stopwatch shrunk back, making himself seem smaller. Infinite frowned, inching closer.

"Hey," He licked his lips, "Are you okay?" Stopwatch flinched when he reached out a hand. Infinite pulled it back, noticing the ectoplasm smeared on one of Stopwatch's cheeks. It almost looked like someone had painted a 'W' there. Both of Stopwatch's hands were putting pressure on his other one, so that meant he was hurt. Maybe the attack which had destabilized all over his shirt had actually hit him? Yeah, part of it probably got through. That… that made sense. Probably.

Not really. _I'm an ice core so if he's burned… I can help. Yes. Then he'll like me. This plan is good._

Infinite moved so that he was right in front of Stopwatch, and again reached out a hand. "Hey, come on, you're hurt. Let me help." _And then you'll like me and be less likely to kill me. Win-win._ He grabbed lightly onto Stopwatch's wrist, frowning when he touched something thick and damp. "Ooookay? That's nice. Not creepy at all." _It's nothing. Probably nothing. No need to freak out it's not like it's a big deal. Breathe! Breathe, you idiot, breathe!_ "Come on, let me see."

Stopwatch squeezed his eyes shut and let his hand be pulled back. Infinite smiled, realized that Stopwatch couldn't see him, and refocused on his cheek. A second later he'd flung himself back, a horrified scream ripping from his throat.

What was very obviously a 'C' had been carved into Stopwatch's right cheek, slightly slanted and leaving a chunk of his flesh hanging loosely. The inside of his mouth was very visible, and was filled with the same ectoplasm which coated Stopwatch's face and hands- the same ectoplasm used to draw the 'W' on his other cheek.

Stopwatch covered his injury back up again as Infinite reached the edge of the little island they were on, nearly tumbling off the edge. "I saved you," It took a moment before he realized Stopwatch was speaking. "They didn't like that."

Oh. _Oh._ Infinite wasn't looking at him- he _couldn't_ look at Stopwatch right now. There was too much, much too much ectoplasm and it was everywhere and he didn't know what to do and- _he got Clockwork's initials put on his face because of me oh god what have I done I just made everything worse oh god oh god oh god I'm gonna throw up oh my god._

There was bright green ectoplasm smeared on his hands, his arms, and his cloak. Infinite saw himself shaking, and his mind replayed the scene from too many months ago- the scene he _should _be over with. He shouldn't be so damaged by it. So he'd been left to bleed out, so he'd been alone, so he_ should've died I should have died Stopwatch wouldn't be hurting because of me if I just died like I was supposed to then I wouldn't be doing this I wouldn't be here I wouldn't be making everything worse-_

Stopwatch sniffed, and Infinite looked up to see the ghost in front of him hiss in pain as a tear got a little too close to his wound. _He saved me. God, I'm a horrible superhero, I just keep putting everyone else in more danger._ Another scene poked at the edges of his mind, and the young man posing as the almighty Infinite Hour sat up a little straighter.

He was Danny Fenton, sometimes Phantom; human ghost hybrid and object of Stopwatch's obsession. If it wasn't for the medallion- Tardis' idea, one part age manipulation two parts of reality manipulation. She'd intended to pass him off as the _real_ Infinite, but Clockwork hadn't been fooled- Stopwatch would be forced to attack him right here and now. He knew this from experience, in both the present and the future.

Not-quite Infinite Hour looked away from the bright green which stained his hands, forcing himself to move forwards. Twice now, it had been an accident which shaped his life. The first had forced him to stand up and fight when no one else could, and the second?

Infinite reached Stopwatch and with a quiet "Hey," scooped him up. Stopwatch seemed surprised, and Infinite slowly rose to his feet. It had been the second accident which had taught him to grab what he could and run. "You'll be okay," Infinite whispered, and shifted so he could touch the phone in his pocket.

There was no fancy delay in his power; there was no need for it. With a rush of black energy and a blast that nearly destroyed the hallway he'd ended up in Infinite was back in the Time Tower. And he could hear voices in the door beside him.

Stopwatch seemed confused, and yelped as Infinite rushed forward and kicked the door open. Clockwork, two Observants, and Hourglass- without her robe, for once- floated in front of him.

"Hello, life core." Infinite said, dropping Stopwatch in a chair. "Help."

"This is a private meeting-" Infinite whirled around, and the Observant who was speaking went silent.

"I'm sorry, do you not see the amount of ectoplasm I'm literally covered in? Last time I checked, it was really fucking obvious." He stepped forwards, "Do I look like someone who is going to sit around and wait until you're done telling Clockwork why he sucks? Newsflash, shitdicks; I don't care about you, or anything you do. And you know what? I'm literally _this_ close to either collapsing, or going mental and breaking your faces in. So, unless you intend to provide your eyes for me to use as a towel, or something else actually useful, get the fuck out of here. Go. Leave. Skedaddle. Because whatever you have to say is not remotely as important as he is." Hourglass had moved to Stopwatch's side, and in a quick motion had removed his sweater. For a moment, Infinite could see hundreds, if not thousands, of green and black scars covering nearly all of him. "So buddy, here's what you need to do if you don't want me to pull out your eyeballs and use them as Halloween decorations; Fuck. Off."

"Do you think your words scare us?" One Observant said.

"If I scream them they might."

The Observants exchanged a look and teleported away. Infinite turned to Clockwork, who was giving him a curious look.

Infinite pointed at Stopwatch. "Help him!"

"Are you hurt?"

"I," He hissed, "Don't. _Matter._ Help Stopwatch. He's the one who basically got your damned initials carved into his face!" He slammed the door behind him when he left, took a few steps, and collapsed into a ball with his forehead on the ground.

_Stupid. Stupid! _Why did he do that- _why was he stupid enough to do that how could he be that dumb that useless he just interrupted the Observants they were going to kill him the second he left god why was he so stupid just putting everyone in danger just trying to be the hero when he wasn't. _He wasn't anything that there wasn't someone else- someone better- who could do it. He was just a copy; a rip-off; a fake. He didn't matter. He'd tried to play it off as a joke, tried to make it hurt less, but no. No, no, no… he'd thought being nice would work. He'd thought being extra, overly, completely nice would stop what was coming in the future but it wouldn't. Because he couldn't do it. Because he-

A hand grabbed his shoulder, and Infinite shifted so that he was leaning against a wall. Time Turner had knelt down in front of him, a first aid kit and a box of wipes beside him. He smiled, grabbed one, and started cleaning the ectoplasm off of Infinite's arms. "You're very brave," He said, "You have a phobia of blood and ectoplasm, correct? I'm terrified of heights, and if I had to deal with that to save someone I don't think I'd be able to."

Tempest was standing behind him. "Tardis went out looking for you. Those cowards waited until she was gone. Clockwork… he has a lot of problems, currently. And those dicks always seem to make them worse. You have no idea how much you helped him just by getting them to leave."

"Thank you, Tempest," Time Turner said curtly, "You can leave me with my patient now."

"He deserves to know, Turner."

"Then you can be a goddamn exposition fairy after he's calmed down." He moved the wipes closer to Infinite, "Here, I'm not sure if I got all of it but I need to check out that head wound. Is that okay?"

Infinite nodded and Time Turner moved to his side. Tempest crouched down in front of Infinite, looking curiously at him. "You know, when Time Turner first came here-"

"_Tempest."_

"-He was just like you. Or so I've heard; I hadn't arrived yet." She continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "He first came here because of Tardis- she was drunk, I think, and he brought her home- but when he brought her in Stopwatch was there with a bruise on his face. Apparently Time Turner launched himself across the room and demanded that Stopwatch sit down and let Turner treat him. Clockwork told me this, after I caught sight of what was going on and screamed because I thought he wasn't doing anything."

"Tempest, really-"

"Let me finish." She shifted, so that she was kneeling now. "You know, Tardis was the one who brought him here. He used to go back to them, every night and all through the weekends. That lasted a few months before Clockwork banned him from going back there. Hourglass appointed herself as what she called a 'buffer' and said she'd do her best to make sure he didn't get hurt like that anymore. Stopwatch was free for two months before he started lying to her. He said he'd found someone else to train him, and other stupid shit. He's been going back there every weekend since; if he misses one, his injuries are worse." She had a sad smile, "We have tried to step in, to do something to help him, for years. Despite everything he's done- especially to Time Turner, who likes to pretend none of it ever happened- because you're right. He's fifteen. He doesn't deserve this hell, even if he is an absolutely massive asshole. But you? Oh, you were simply fantastic."

"Oh," Infinite muttered, "Me?" _No. No I wasn't. I got him hurt worse he'd be better off without me everyone would be better off without me._

"I underestimated you, severely." She was genuinely smiling now, and for the first time Infinite noticed how light Tempest's tone was. "I'll be the first to admit I didn't like you when you first arrived. I looked at you and saw a coward who would back down the second things got bad. But you tracked down Stopwatch. Clockwork hasn't even been able to do that, and believe me, he's tried. You were amazing. I want you to know this, because Stopwatch will go back there next weekend." Infinite tensed and heard Time Turner curse softly. "And the weekend after that, and the weekend after that. You have not saved him. You have not stopped this. If it was that simple, it would have been done already. The sooner you accept this and stop trying, the better."

"And there it is," Time Turner sighed.

Infinite stared at the ghost in front of him, the remainders of the fear still clinging to him turning into rage. "No," He said, "I don't care. I- I refuse to stand by and watch-"

"If we could help him, do you honestly think he'd still be going back there?" Tempest said, "I realize it may be hard to accept, but there's nothing you can do."

"Yeah, well," He said, "That doesn't mean I'm not going to try. I'm not going to let _anyone _be hurt when I know I can save them."

"You seem to have missed the point," She folded her hands in her lap. "Nothing you try will ever work."

"Yeah, well, you've missed mine; he's being hurt. I don't care how bad the circumstances are; they don't mean I'm not going to try."

.-.-.-.-.-.

The ghost didn't show up at all Sunday, which Danny had unfortunately spent watching Noah the gorilla at Tucker's. His friend had left him alone for an hour later on, when he'd gone with his mom to get a new phone, leaving Danny alone in his house. Skulker had not reappeared.

"Maybe he's hunting someone else now?" Sam suggested as the trio left Mr. Lancer's room when the lunch bell rang.

"Maybe he found the actual Warrior Boy," Tucker said, looking at his new phone. "It's a good thing I had your schedule backed up, Danny. We're going to be eating in Mr. Lock's room, since he's the least likely to kill us for eating near his computers. And you're going to be looking up the history of Sampson and Noah. Which sounds like the plot of a bible fanfiction."

Danny walked reached his locker as Sam raised her eyebrows, "Do I want to know?"

"The internet is a terrifying place," Danny said, "Filled with Jesus-slash-reader fanfiction."

"And gorillas flashing web cams," Tucker spoke up.

"...Nope," Sam said, "I'm not even going to ask for what that's supposed to mean."

"Noah the gorilla found the camera," Tucker said, "And Danny did the most horrified screech I have ever heard."

"I am now scarred for life and would like to request we never bring up the topic again," The door to his locker swung open, and Danny was thrown back. Green, glowing chains wrapped around him as Skulker appeared in the hallway.

"I have you now, Warrior Boy!"

"Still not my name," Danny said, "And this is still, somehow, worse than the gorilla thing." Joking. Joking was good. He couldn't be afraid of a situation if it made him laugh.

"Nothing is worse than the gorilla thing," Skulker said, and aimed on of his weapons at Danny. A second later, his wrist seemed to ding. "What? Oh, not this- head to Lock's room, read up on history of the purple-back gorilla." Looking annoyed, Skulker's wings shot out and he went intangibly through the roof.

Danny watched as the chains disappeared and slowly looked back up at his friends. "What... just happened?"

"Was it just me," Sam said, "Or was he following your schedule?"

"Wait," Tucker looked at his phone, "Okay, that's just weird."

Danny hesitantly moved forwards, throwing his stuff in his locker. "Well if he's following it, that means I don't have to."

"That's really not what it means at all-"

"Tucker," Danny turned to his friend, "I'm being stalked by a ghost who wants to kidnap me and got really mad when I tried to sic Prince on him. If he's somewhere, I'm not going _anywhere_ near there."

Unfortunately, that plan had some kinks. Tucker had put Danny's entire schedule into his phone, leading to nearly every time Danny wasn't surrounded by a crowd there would be something trying to immobilize him.

For once, Danny was not looking forward to the end of PE, where there would surely be another attempt to kidnap him. Unfortunately the class went much quicker than normal, and Danny soon found himself standing in front of his locker.

Danny reached for the lock, stopped, and turned to the group of jocks a little ways away from him. They all seemed to be admiring a bruise Dash had. _Hmm..._ "Dash?" Danny said in a quiet voice, causing the group to look over at him. "I... I can't open my locker. I'm so sorry to bother you, but could you do it for me?"

From across the locker room, Tucker raised his eyebrows.

Kwan laughed, patting Dash on the shoulder. "Should we give you two some alone time?" The group of jocks let out a course of coos.

"Why, so you guys can have a three way in the janitor's closet?"

"Hey," Said the jock named Travis, "It's not gay if it's a three-way." The others turned to him, seemingly confused. "What? It's not!"

"Uh, Trav?" The final member of the group, Josh, slung his hand over Travis' shoulder, "Walk with me." With Kwan following, they walked away from the lockers.

Dash moved to Danny's side, shoving him back. "The combination's 20-4-23." He quickly moved to Tucker's side and out of view. Dash opened his locker and was immediately shot by blue ectoplasm.

"Danny, what are you doing?" Tucker whispered, watching as Danny grabbed his phone. "Besides stealing from me."

Skulker had appeared and was looking in confusion at Dash, who almost seemed to be trapped in some sort of jello bubble. _2-0-0-3... yes!_ Danny unlocked Tucker's phone and accessed his schedule. Skulker had noticed him now, and was about to attack. "Hi, Skulker!" He pressed enter, and the alarm on Tucker's old phone went off. "Bye, Skulker!"

"Look up pictures of gorilla at museum of natural history." Looking dejected, Skulker looked away from the phone and shot through the roof.

Tucker grabbed his phone back, "Why's he going there?"

"When Skulker stole your phone he became bound to my schedule_. _So now we can send him where ever we want," Danny started back to his locker, grabbing his clean clothes. "Or, you know, capture him or whatever. Send him to France."

"Those are two completely different things," Tucker said. "And if he has to go to Europe, he's going to Sweden."

"Either way, _we_ control his next move." Danny grinned, "It's time for the hunter to become the hunted."

"Dude."

"Hm?"

"You make that joke again and I'm going to smack you."

.-.-.-.-.-.

With Sampson finally allowed back in his habitat after his escape attempt, the trio had a reason to be at the zoo. Though, technically that only meant they were supposed to stay in the building, but bending the rules would be fine as long as they didn't get caught.

Or, you know, mauled by a gorilla or something.

"Danny," Sam whispered, "Why do we have to be in here? Did you think this plan through at all?"

"Vaguely?" Danny replied, holding tightly to the trunk of the tree they had climbed. "I know what I'm doing, Sam."

"_Right."_

"I hate to break up your lovers spat," Tucker said, "But Harry Huntdini has made himself known."

"Harry- what?" Danny raised his eyebrows, watching as Skulker landed in front of the gorilla. "Leave the name puns to me."

"You were supposed to be the bait!" Skulker was shouting at Sampson, "You stupid animal!"

"That's it," Sam slid out of the tree, "Sampson's _not_ stupid!" She shouted, attracting the ghost's attention.

"She's going to get herself killed," Tucker said, tapping his phone. "Then you'll be single and free to mingle."

"One more comment like that and you'll be going in the tiger cage next."

"Ow, my soul," He pressed send, and Skulker was encased in a white light. He dropped to the ground, frantically doing push-ups.

"Keep him busy," Danny said, climbing down the tree.

"What did you think I was going to do? Take him on a hot date?"

"Well if it keeps him busy," Danny reached the ground and spun his backpack around to his front. "Hey, Skulker!" He grabbed the thermos, pointing it at the ghost. "Why don't you go out and hunt us down some dinner? I'm thinking of making some soup!"

The thermos sparked, but did not activate. Skulker had stopped doing push ups now, and had a variety of weapons sprouting from his body.

"I always knew I'd die on a Monday," Danny said, ducking behind the tree as Skulker fired. "Hah! You-" He stuck his head back out and found himself staring down the barrel of the gun. "Oh."

"Danny!" Sam had started moving back to his side, only to drop to the ground when Skulker fired at her. Sampson rushed over, looking between the trio of humans. A moment later, Skulker was being attacked by what looked like some sort of spinning brush. "Tucker! Stop fooling around!"

"Power him down! Now!" Danny shouted.

"Relax," Tucker called down, "Everything is under-" Something bright and blue shot up in his direction. Tucker screamed and fell back, clinging desperately onto the branch he'd been sitting on. "Everything is not under control!"

"Tucker!" Again, Skulker was shoving a gun in his face. Danny stared the ghost in the eyes, shoving his weapon away. "You could have killed him." He stood no chance against a ghost- that much was obvious, and Danny knew it.

But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. Danny pulled his left fist back and punched Skulker right in his stupid, ugly face.

"Jesus!" Danny shouted, shaking out his hand. "Christ, ow... ow... bad plan..." He slumped against the tree, "Really bad plan."

Skulker's face had a tiny dent in the nose now. "I planned on simply capturing you and letting you live your life in a cage. But now, I see that the only fitting place for you is as a pelt at the foot of my bed!"

"Okay," Sam said, "That's just gross."

Internally screaming, Danny looked up at the ghost with his best brave face. _I am a Fenton. No ghost will ever beat a Fenton!_ "With or without clothes?"

"I- what?"

"Hey, I'm just saying; having a naked teenage boy as a rug _might _not be the best plan."

"I... don't... stop distracting me!" His weapons were charging now, and Danny stepped back. "Say your goodbyes, Warrior Boy- they're more than you deserve."

Sampson took a hesitant step forwards, which Danny saw. "Of course." _Oh. Oh I have a plan! I can do this!_ He locked eyes with the gorilla and held up his hands. Twice, he patted his head. Twice, he covered and uncovered his eyes as if he was playing peekaboo with a small child. Five times he beat his hands on his chest. And just because it would bother Skulker, he turned around and started scratching his rear.

"What are you doing?!" The ghost snapped.

Danny stepped to the side, "Calling a friend." With that, Sampson tackled him from behind.

Sam was running towards him, and pulled Danny back when the gorilla versus ghost fight got a little too close. "You learned his language?"

"I can't believe I actually remembered that," Danny said, pulling himself up onto a branch of the tree. "Still holding strong, Tucker?"

"Nope," Tucker said as Danny reached the branch below him. "Help me."

Sam reached the branch as well, smiling at Danny. "You are amazing."

"I am?"

"You learned the _language, _Danny!" Danny didn't have the heart to tell her that was all he knew in it.

"Less flirting, more helping!" Tucker called. As Danny helped him onto the branch, which bent under their collected weight, his watch beeped. _And curfew starts now. Except I don't have to go home tonight. Probably should've turned it off..._

The trio climbed down the tree, standing near a proud Sampson and what almost appeared to be Skulker's dead body. "This is weird," Sam said. "I feel like we should have a funeral or something."

"For what?" Tucker said, "My phone?"

"How about your job?" Danny said, "Because after this? You're totally fired."

Tucker placed a hand over his chest and took on a look of fear. "After everything I did for you? Why must you hurt me this way?" He kicked a severed and sparking robotic arm out of the way. "Any ideas why a ghost would need a high-tech battle suit?"

From the body of the suit, Danny could hear something squeaking. Frowning, he stepped forwards and pulled the head off. Inside was a tiny, green, frog like creature. "Oh my god," Danny muttered, turning to show his friends. "Guys, this is-"

"I am Skulker!" The little ghost said, "The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter! The wise tremble before me! And you, Warrior Boy, will perish with the rest of the rebels who dare oppose us!"

Danny snorted, "Right, let me refresh your memory; my name is Danny Fenton. I come from a long, _long_ line of ghost hunters. And you are a ghost. Basically what I'm saying is-" His ghost sense came out in a little puff.

"Why are you in a cage?" Prince was saying as Danny turned back, seeing the ghost pass through the bars. He had a sticker of a pie on his right cheek, which had sparkling blue letters over it- 'you are a cutie pie' it read. "I thought humans weren't supposed to be in a cage unless they did something bad. Danny, did you kill someone?"

"What? No," Danny hid Skulker behind his back, "What about you? What were you doing all weekend?" Sam and Tucker had turned back as well, and looked furious.

Prince beamed, "I got a sticker!"

"I see that."

"Lucy gave it to me! She's six and likes ponies!" He held up his hands, revealing two more stickers- one with a smiling face on it, another with a pink kitten. "These came from Rosie and Johnny! They're twins, but not the identical kind. They like cars and slides! I like the swings." Prince floated closer, "The swings are fun."

"That's nice," Danny said, holding up Skulker by his ankles. "I caught a ghost. Guess this means I won our bet."

"But you blew the whistle," Prince frowned now, "Just because I didn't come doesn't mean-"

"So this is Dark," Skulker cut him off, and Prince seemed tense. "Another useless rebel who thinks too highly of himself."

The air around them dropped several degrees. Prince grabbed Skulker, holding the smaller ghost wrapped up in his fist. "Hi," Prince said slowly, and Danny felt a rush of emotions which were not his own. Prince was... scared? "What did you just call me?"

"You heard me, child! As soon as the world hears that I was right in my assumption that you and Warrior Boy still-" Ice crystals were forming around Prince's hands.

"If you _ever_ call me by that name again," Prince hissed, hitting Danny with a wave of fury. "I will remove your core and crush it beneath my shoe. I am Prince Phantom, and if you had an ounce of sense in you, you wouldn't have made such a mistake." He landed, and ice crawled along the ground where he stood. "You mention either of those two near me again and will _laugh _as your body is lost in the depths of the Ghost Zone. Am I clear?"

"Prince?" Danny said softly, "Hey, Prince, it's just a name-"

"You are not Prince Phantom," Skulker said, "Don't lie to me you-"

"Shut. _Up!"_ Prince threw him on the ground, and Danny took a step closer. Were those tears in the corner of Prince's eyes? "You're wrong! Stop being wrong! Stop calling me that _name!_"

"Prince," Danny said again, feeling the frozen air around him cling to his bare arms. "Prince, calm down, it's okay-"

"It's _not _okay!" Prince lashed out with a hand, and Danny felt something smash into his gut. He was thrown back, crashing into Sampson.

The gorilla caught him, and Danny sat up a little bit. Prince had both hands clasped over his mouth, while Sam and Tucker looked as if they were about to commit murder. Danny dimly noted that he could no longer feel what Prince was as he gave a thumbs up. "I'm okay, guys. Let's... Prince, put Skulker in the thermos and we'll go home okay? We- we stopped the ghost, saved the gorilla, everything's..." He shifted, fully intending to just sit up and go on with his life. But something else distracted him, and for a moment Danny stared at the gorilla before pulling away with a yelp. "Holy- oh my god!"

"Did you see another gorilla dick pic?" Tucker joked, moving to help Danny up. Sam stayed where she was, still glaring at Prince.

"No," Danny shook his head, "No, I didn't!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

"You know what's not cool?"

Prince looked up from Danny's textbook, "Slavery?"

"He's not wrong," Tucker said.

Danny rolled his eyes. The day after the events at the zoo, the four of them sat in Casper High's library instead of their respective classrooms. "No, I mean the fact that even after we did all that, not only is my grade still horrible but I still have no idea who Warrior Boy is."

Sam and Tucker, who had positioned themselves between Danny and Prince, exchanged a look. "Prince Phantom," Sam said, "Tell us who Warrior Boy is."

Prince tensed, shaking for a moment before he said, "A murderer."

"Specific," Danny said, "Who'd he kill?"

"Prince Phantom," Tucker said when Prince hesitated for a little too long. "Who did Warrior Boy kill?"

Prince looked honestly pained, so Danny spoke up. "You don't have to. Prince Phantom, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

Prince relaxed, hiding his face in Danny's textbook once again.

"Danny, you're too nice," Sam said, "You want to know, don't you? Prince knows, and we can make him talk-"

"Yeah, but it's _wrong._" Danny shook his head, "In the end, guys, I don't care. I'm curious, but it's probably nothing important. My grades, on the other hand..." He sighed, "I'm officially the one dumb Fenton."

"Danny, don't say that!" Sam put a hand on his shoulder, "School doesn't measure your intelligence, it measures your memory and patience! The school system is fucking horrible; you're not the problem, it is."

Prince disappeared as clapping rang out. Danny sat up a little straighter as a woman walked around the bookcase they were hiding behind, "Forgive me for interrupting, my name is Connie. I'm a reporter for Genius Magazine."

"I know you," Danny said, "You were at my house on Saturday."

"Yes, I was interviewing your mother," She stole Prince's chair and sat down. "The zoo staff contacted me with news of your discovery this morning, and I must say I am very impressed! You, a fourteen-year-old boy, managed to do what hundreds of accomplished biologists could not. I would like to interview you about how you managed to do so, if that's alright?"

"You're kidding," Danny said, "I'm the first person to realize Sampson was a she?"

"Delilah," Connie corrected. "Her name was changed in light of this new information. And yes, you are. What do you say, Danny? Will you give me the interview?"

"How did she even get in the school?" Prince whispered beside Danny's ear.

Danny elbowed the ghost away. "On one condition; you convince Mr. Lancer to bump up my grade for this."

* * *

We interrupt your regularly scheduled author's note for a fitting quote my friend said in regards to this fic; "You need to be nicer to your characters, otherwise child services is going to come and take your babies away!" And then she stormed out. It was amazing.

So, my lovely beta has pointed out to me that Infinite's identity is a bit confusing. Hopefully this has cleared it up, but for anyone still confused; he was the Danny who appeared in the first chapter and also the same version of Danny presented in SOS Text. As far as he knows, he is only pretending to be the ghost called Infinite Hour.

Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill. Let me know who your favourite characters are (it increases the chance of me writing scenes from their point of view) and reviews keep me going. Any flames, however, will be treated to… _Bible Fanfiction._

*Infinite voice* You know, that joke was funnier in my head.

Next chapter will be Splitting Images! ^-^


	7. Splitting Images

In which stuff happens. Yes, stuff. Stuff is a good term.

Granted, some of it is stuff that emotionally compromised my lovely beta, but who's keeping track?

(I am. I'm keeping track.)

No warnings aside from the usual, so… onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

Stopwatch's room was small, with no windows, a bed in the corner, and soft sheets. There was a dresser with a mirror- that was new- along with plenty more hoodies and t-shirts, among other things. Apparently, Clockwork hadn't been too thrilled with the fact Stopwatch didn't normally change his clothes. He hadn't found the little vial of human blood hidden in Stopwatch's sweater, fortunately. That had been a disgusting pain to get back.

Stopwatch sighed, flopping back onto his bed. The pillow rubbed uncomfortably against the bandage covering his cheek, causing him to wince. He may have been told to rest for the next few days, but that didn't mean it wasn't boring. There was _nothing_ to do in his room! Stopwatch groaned, rolling over so that he was facing the wall. _I hate everything._

The door squeaked open, and Stopwatch quickly sat up. Hourglass stood there, a tray in her hands. "Soup," She said, "For you."

Stopwatch sat up as she moved forward, setting it down on the table beside his bed. "I could've gone down to get it."

"Yeah, but you're supposed to be resting." She sat down beside him, playing with her braid. "I'm sorry."

Stopwatch raised his eyebrows, "For what?"

Hourglass shrugged, "I don't know. Just... thought I should... sorry."

Stopwatch frowned and poked her arm. "Stop apologizing. You did nothing wrong."

"But..."

"Nothing. You did nothing wrong." He leaned forwards, "So stop being sad, okay?"

Hourglass licked her lips, tugged on her hair, and burst out with, "Prince is okay!"

Stopwatch blinked twice. "Okay?"

"He got caught in the portal, and you pushed me back, and then I was upset." Hourglass clarified, "He's fine. Stuck to a Danny but he's fine. I- I don't think I told you..." _If you did I wasn't listening._ "Tardis and Infinite wanted it to stay a secret. They only told me because I was crying and... and Infinite said that was his weakness..."

"Oh," _She'd be crying right now if I'd let him die._

"Yeah," For a moment, there was silence. "Why don't you like him?"

_Shit. _"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean! You thought I didn't notice, didn't you? I- I'm not stupid! You hate him! You don't even hate Tempest, and she hates everyone, but you hate him!"

"Oh!" Stopwatch grabbed her arm, "No, I uh... I know. I get it. He's just annoying, that's all."

Hourglass nodded slowly. "Oh. I see. …He's not really like that, you know." _Right. _"He's really scared, all the time. Aunt- um. Not that. Tardis said that he saw something really bad a couple months ago. And he's trying to get over it by being overly nice and friend-like to everyone. So they'll like him, and be his friends. So he'll be less afraid because he has friends."

_That doesn't make sense._ "Where is Infinite now?"

"Um, home." She grabbed a loose strand of hair and started braiding it, "Tardis gave him the next while off or... or something. I wasn't really focusing because I was worried about you."

"Oh," For a moment the two sat in awkward silence, which was fortunately broken by Stopwatch grabbing the tray. "Want some?"

Hourglass wrinkled her nose, "I cooked it, why do I have to eat it too?"

"What?"

"Umm..." She held up a finger, "I don't want to eat it because it smelt weird while I was cooking it."

"You cooked it?" Stopwatch frowned, "You hate cooking. Did Tardis crash or something?"

Hourglass nodded, "I- maybe. I don't know. But Clockwork locked her in her room so uh-" She slouched, "I'm going alone. There's another royals meeting Thursday for some important reason and she's not going to be able to go now but one of us _has_ to go-" She pulled down her hood, "I don't want to deal with them alone."

Stopwatch put a spoonful of soup in his mouth to avoid having to speak.

"I should go... do... things." She stood, starting towards the door. "Um... eat the soup." She didn't close the door.

Stopwatch moved the tray to the side, about to get up and close the door. He didn't want to go. The Royals Sympathizers were weird; who else had meeting nearly every week that you could go to have other people tell you your twisted views were right? And he _especially _didn't want to go if there was going to be some reminder of _them_ there. After Infinite's stunt there was no way it wouldn't go badly. But if he didn't go, if he let Hourglass deal with it alone... she'd be in danger. And it'd be his fault.

"Hourglass!" He moved into the hallway, "Wait up!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny stumbled, nearly dropping the box he was carrying. "So why exactly are we breaking our backs here, Sam?"

"Frogs' rights!" Sam declared as Danny and Tucker exchanged a look. "We've got to stop raising frogs specifically for dissection in our school's biology lab! And at today's assembly I'm going to demonstrate a humane alternative."

Tucker shifted his box, "I can't believe it's not a frog cadaver. So we're ripping off fake butter now?"

"Aw, that was lame. Come on Tucker; surely you can come up with a _butter_ joke than that?" Danny slipped, yelping as he fell back into Prince's arms. "Hi, Prince."

"Hello, Danny." The ghost pushed Danny back to his feet. "I have a butter joke."

"You do?"

"Yeah. But it's not my churn to say it."

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. "That's it," She said, "I'm leaving."

"Aw, come on guys!" Danny shifted the box, moving quickly away from the ghost and after his friends. "I'll come up with-"

"If that sentence has anything to do with butter in it," Tucker said, "I'm going to hurt you."

"But they're dairy good!" Prince said, landing beside Danny.

Sam set her box down, "Did you want something, or are you just here to bother us?"

"Yeah," Tucker said, "What _do_ you want?"

"Um... snacks?" Prince said, "Danny has granola bars. I want one."

Danny rolled his eyes, and motioned to the row of lockers just down the hall. "They're in my locker. I-" His ghost sense cut him off as Sam's box started glowing. It nearly jumped from her arms, green mist spilling from any opening and taking the form of- "Oh great, him again."

Prince groaned. _"Why._ Why does it have to be you?"

"I am the Box Ghost! And I will have my corrugated cardboard vengeance!"

"You go do your thing," Prince said, sighing. "I'll deal with this."

Danny was strongly tempted to protest, but having the assembly go perfectly did mean a lot to Sam. And it _was_ just the Box Ghost... "Whatever. Come on, guys." He led the way past the two ghosts, "If you get a chance, mess up the art room or something. I don't want to go to that class." Prince punched the Box Ghost as the trio rounded a corner. They made it to the gymnasium in record time, slipping in the side door which led to stage.

"We'll be here in case something happens," Tucker said, setting his box down where Sam said to and taking out his phone. "Just don't make us join your speech."

"Seconded," Danny said, setting his down as well. "Good luck."

"That gives me bad luck," Sam said. "But thanks." She moved to the other side of the curtains and on stage.

Danny stood awkwardly off stage, not quite sure what he should be doing. And his shoulder was starting to hurt...

Prince crashed into Danny's back, causing the two of them to be thrown across the stage. Tucker, who had put earbuds in, did not look up as the Box Ghost appeared beside him.

"Tremble before the might of the Box Ghost, as you are devoured by... uh-" He paused, looking at the box he was levitating. "Oh yeah, props and costumes from the Broadway classic; My Fair Lady!"

"What might?" Danny said, standing up. His shoulder was really uncomfortable now. "Because everything I've seen from you so far is mighty pathetic-" He was cut off when the contents of the box hit him in the face. Danny found himself caught in a pile of fabrics which somehow managed to get stuck on his arms.

"Fellow students. Something sick and disgusting is taking place right here in our school..." Crud. Crud Sam was starting. _I need to get out of the way!_ Danny flopped out of most of the clothes pile, rolling onto his stomach in an attempt to discharge the rest. The curtain slid open before Danny could move, and there was a beat of silence. _Maybe they haven't seen me. Maybe I'm off stage. Maybe they don't care maybe everything's going to be fine-_

The room burst into laughter the second Danny sat up, staring at the pink dress and hat he'd somehow ended up in. An almost painful mix of anger, guilt, and embarrassment had settled in his gut and it was not helped by Tucker's yell of "Take it off!"

Danny forced himself to his feet and ran off stage.

Danny found himself in an empty janitor's closet, throwing the hat across the room and struggling to get out of the dress. He could feel Prince watching him from the side. "Danny-"

"What?" Danny snapped, struggling to pull the dress off of himself. "If you're going to say _anything_ about this being my fault I'm going to hurt you."

"But it is your-" Danny aimed his elbow upwards and jabbed Prince in his neck. Prince made a squeaky noise as he moved back, and Danny took an uncomfortable breath in. "Well I was going to help you, but now I'm just going to watch you squirm."

"I hate you," Danny muttered, and took a moment to realize what he had said.

"Line-stealer," Prince crossed his arms. "You should've just gotten out of the way."

"You smacked into me!"

"You're the one in the dress!"

"Because you lured the Box Ghost right to Sam's speech!" Danny jabbed a finger in Prince's face, "I know you don't like her, but that was not cool, Prince!"

"Right. Because him nearly stabbing me then knocking me through your locker was planned." Prince nodded slowly, "That plan is dumb."

"Yeah- well- _you're dumb!_"

Their argument was cut off by a knocking on the door. "Danny?" Jazz called, "Are you in there?"

Prince rolled his eyes and turned invisible as Danny went back to struggling out of the dress. "What do you want?"

Jazz opened the door just as Danny managed to free his arm. "Danny-"

"It fell on me," He said, "Stupid thing fell on me and now it's stuck." Danny groaned, attempting to free his other arm. "Get... out!" He heard it rip, but at least his arm was free. Danny threw the dress too, watching as it caught on a broom and both fell to the ground. "I hate this school. I hope someone burns it down."

"Danny," His sister said gently, "You don't mean that."

"You're right. Fire's too good for this place, anyway." There was something on his face. Danny rubbed at his eyes and pulled his hand back, staring at the blue smudge on his knuckles. "..._Why."_

"I would've told you," Prince whispered by Danny's ear, "But you looked really pretty."

Danny threw his hands in the air, walked over to the dress, and used it to wipe his face. "Of course. Of course the weird stuff that doesn't make any sense is going to happen to me!" He threw it back against the wall and glared at it. "I'm going to have to pay for that, won't I? Great. Excellent. Can this day get any better?!"

It was at that moment when Sam burst in, Tucker on her heels. "What the fuck was that?!" She snapped, "Thanks to your little dress up parade, my save the frogs presentation was a total bust! You ruined everything, you- you-" She cut off into a scream and punched Danny in his arm.

"Ow, hey!" Danny shoved her back as Tucker moved behind Jazz. "It's not my fault!"

"That's enough," Jazz stepped between them, one hand on Danny's arm. "Sam, right? Get out. If you're going to attack my brother because of his disability you can leave."

"Disa- oh." Sam stepped back, "Wait, you're saying that he-" She frowned, cutting off abruptly and holding out her hand. "Danny, give me the whistle."

"Sam-"

"Danny, _now._"

Thinking back to how much of a dick Prince had been before, Danny handed Sam the whistle. She rushed out of the room, dragging Tucker with her.

Jazz raised her eyebrows, "Why were you wearing a dog whistle?"

"Technically it's a ghost whistle," Jazz raised her eyebrows a bit higher and Danny sighed, "Don't ask; it was free. Can we just go home or something? Please?"

Jazz hesitated for a second before wrapping her arm around Danny's shoulders. "Of course. You know, if you actually took your epilepsy medication like you were supposed to, this wouldn't have happened."

Danny rolled his eyes but didn't comment. He allowed his sister to lead him out of the janitor closet and through the hallway, cutting off any thought of Prince and doing his best to ignore the pain that shot through his gut.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny entered the kitchen the next morning to see his mom working on some sort of metal gloves while his dad ate breakfast. Jazz sat a little ways away, checking over her something in her textbook.

"So, Danny!" Jack said, "What's this I hear about you getting a new locker?"

"I am?" Danny raised an eyebrow, grabbing a banana from the counter and starting to peel it.

"The school called, sweetie," Maddie said, "Mr. Lancer said something about your locker being damaged...?"

"Oh," _Darn it, Prince._ "This is the first I'm hearing of it, so it can't be too important. Nothing to get obsessive about- and no, it is not haunted!"

"Haunted?!" Jack perked up as Jazz groaned.

"Don't worry, son!" Maddie said, "You'll barely even notice us while we're staking it out during regular school hours!"

Danny, not remotely paying attention, rolled his eyes and gave them a thumbs up.

"What? No!" Jazz jumped up from her chair and pulled Danny close to her, "Danny's at a very critical stage in the development of his peer groups," Danny maneuvered his banana around her arm so he could take a bite. "He's already considered a clumsy nerd; the last thing he needs is you two confirming it!"

Danny swallowed as his sister pulled away, "Nice defense Jazz, total confidence builder." He took another bite, "Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"Danny, don't speak with your mouth full," Maddie chided, pulling the gloves away as her husband reached for them. "Not yet, Jack! The wires aren't stable yet; they could electrocute you."

"I can confirm that is not fun," Danny said, finishing off his banana.

"That reminds me!" Jazz opened up the cupboard and passed Danny a small plastic container. "Take your medicine Danny, we don't want a repeat of yesterday, do we? You need to take them everyday and on time."

"Oh, sweetie," Maddie abandoned the gloves and turned back to her kids, "Did you have another seizure?"

Danny had a brief, mental vision of punching Prince in the face. "I'm fine, Mom." He grabbed a pill and went to pour himself a drink. Danny glared at the pill before he dropped it down his shirt and feigned swallowing it. He took a long drink of milk, keeping his arm pressed against his side in an effort to stop it from falling onto the floor. "I hate everything."

Jazz handed him a napkin, "It's called being fourteen." She patted him on the shoulder, gathered up her books, and left. While she wasn't looking, Danny shoved the pill into his pocket.

Danny put his cup in the sink and pretended he didn't notice the looks his parents were giving him. More than ever, he was tempted to tell them there was nothing actually wrong with him; it was all Prince's fault. He was fine.

"Hey, Danny!" His dad spoke up just as he left the kitchen, "Would you, um, like a ride to school?"

Danny considered his Dad's driving for a moment before shrugging. "Sure, okay."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Sam was twirling the ghost whistle around one of her fingers as she walked. Tucker thanked his mom for the ride and rushed over to her, snatching it out of her hand. "What are you doing?"

"That ghost and I have settled our differences." She grinned, "I've got him under control now."

"You ordered him to do that stupid dance again, didn't you?"

"It's funny," Sam said, grabbing the whistle back and shoving it in her pocket. "And he won't hurt Danny or make him feel like shit anymore. I fixed everything."

Tucker frowned, "So where is Prince?"

Sam brought the whistle to her lips and blew it. Prince appeared in front of them, hands resting at his side instead of clasped over his ears, and fixed Sam with a blank look.

"Holy shit," Tucker took a step back, "Did you break him or something?"

"He has to follow orders, doesn't he?" Sam went back to spinning the whistle, "Well I've made sure he can't hurt any of us in any way- even indirectly- without having to inflict _triple_ that pain on himself. And he's not allowed to let any harm come to Danny unless he feels like breaking all his fingers. And he has to report to whoever blows the whistle for orders, which will have full effect on him without saying his name." The whistle went flying off her finger, and Tucker lifted a hand to catch it. "He can't even look at Danny the wrong way anymore. I fixed everything."

Tucker frowned, looking at the ghost in front of him. Some part him was screaming about how wrong this was, but he silenced it. The ghost had caused Danny nothing but trouble. If Sam had found a way to keep Danny safe, then that was definitely a good thing. "How do we get him back to normal?"

Sam cleared her throat, "Prince Phantom, you are dismissed."

Prince flinched, pulled his hands close, and nodded slowly. "T-thank you." He disappeared again.

Sam and Tucker found Danny in a hallway, narrowing his eyes at a rusted locker. "Why," He muttered, "Out of all the stupid lockers in this school-"

"Hey dude," Tucker said, tossing his friend the whistle. Danny fumbled and dropped it, glaring at piece of metal. "Good job."

"I hate everything," Danny said, "So apparently I have a new locker now since _someone_ ruined my old one. And guess what? Locker 724 is-"

Tucker cut him off with a gasp, which was copied by Sam.

"Um, guys? What's wrong?" Danny said, opening the locker and looking at the mirror inside. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Or, you know, something really scary we don't see every single day. Speaking of that, do you guys know where Prince went? I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Hello? Locker 724?" Tucker raised his eyebrows, "How do you not know the legend of locker 724?! Your parents hunt ghosts!"

"Which I ignore," Danny said, poking the mirror. "What's the big deal with 724? Wait, let me guess; it's haunted."

"It's more of a curse," Sam said, picking up the whistle. "Fair warning, the dick squad is approaching."

"The what?" Tucker and Danny looked over just as the football team approached. Dash slammed a pink hat down on Danny's head while Tucker took an awkward step back.

"You left something behind, _Fentina!_" Dash declared before breaking into laughter, which was copied by his crew. Danny glared at them as Dash continued, "Let's see if it fits in your new locker! With you inside!" He grabbed Danny by the shoulder and lifted him slightly off the ground, before abruptly dropping him and moving back.

"Ow, hey!" Danny picked himself up off the floor and threw the hat at Dash. "Watch it!"

Dash didn't move, looking for a few moments longer as if he was screaming without sound. His hands were shaking as he lowered them, and Danny took a step back.

"Dash?" Kwan said, "Are you okay?"

Dash placed one hand on his hip and stuck the other out with a slight bend. "I... am a teapot. With muscles."

Danny took a step back. "That's... that's nice. Good for you."

"And now... for a song." Dash crouched down, drumming his hands on his knees. "This... is the teapot song!" He sounded unsure, which was especially weird coming from Dash. "It's a song about teapots, singing their song! The teapot song! The teapot song! Singing their song! The teapot song! I made up this song and I don't know the words! The teapot song! The teapot song!"

Kwan gently placed his hands on Dash's arms and led him down the hall, "Hey... come on, Dash, let's go for a walk, okay?"

Dash patted him on the shoulder as they turned a corner. "You're a good friend. Too bad I have no idea what your name is."

"It's okay," Kwan said, "Just come with me, okay?"

The rest of the football team exchanged confused looks before following them. For a moment, the trio was left in awkward and confused silence.

"Well..." Tucker said, "That happened."

"Is he okay?" Danny said, "He... what even was that?"

Prince appeared in from of them, humming something with a toon similar to Dash's song. "Ta-da!" He bowed, "I am never writing a song again!"

"Wait," Sam narrowed her eyes, "That was _you?_"

Prince stepped back as Sam moved forwards, but was cut off when Danny held up his hand for a high five. "Dude, that was awesome!"

Prince frowned, "Huh?"

"You were controlling him! You made him sing that stupid song!" Danny dropped his hand and leaned against the locker, bending over with laughter. "That was _awesome!_ How did you do that?!"

"Overshadowing...?" Prince muttered, looking cautiously at Sam. "Um..."

"Danny!" Sam snapped, "Don't encourage him! He used Dash like a puppet!"

"And stopped me from being shoved in my locker!" Danny's smile was huge, while Prince kept giving them unsure looks. "How is that a bad thing? It was awesome! Tucker, back me up here!"

Tucker held up his hands, "Dude, Dash literally just got possessed by a dead guy. That's not okay."

"So if he could do it," Prince said, pointing at Danny, "It'd be okay? You humans are weird."

Danny frowned, looking down at his hands. "If I could do it... huh. Tucker, don't move."

Tucker didn't get a chance to dive out of the way before Danny turned himself intangible and rushed into him. The next thing Tucker knew, he was sitting on the ground a little farther down the hall. Danny was a little ways away with his hands thrown in the air.

"That was _awesome!_" He shouted as he threw his hands in the air. "I'm totally going to do that to Dash!"

Tucker moved away from his best friend, bumping into Sam. He felt her grab his shoulder, though Tucker didn't take his eyes off Danny. "You're not going to do that to anyone ever again," Sam said, "Or else."

"Come on," Danny said, standing up as Sam helped Tucker do the same. "It's Dash! He deserves it!"

Prince floated slowly over to Danny's side, looked hesitantly at Sam and Tucker, and said "You should probably get your whistle back."

Sam gripped it tighter, "No. Not until you agree to never do that to anyone again. Tucker, back me up here."

Tucker looked between Danny and Sam. "I have no idea what just happened."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny felt his gut twist as he watched a couple from the football team harass some kid he didn't know. He could make them pay; he _knew_ he could. He could overshadow them and ruin their lives so easily. But Sam had made him promise not to use his powers against humans.

Danny stuffed his backpack in his locker and slammed the door closed. He ignored his ghost sense- it was probably Prince- and moved to the cafeteria.

Sam and Tucker were sitting at a table near the A-list when Danny finally sat down. He overheard bits of their conversations- one had been hit by a locker door, Paulina had some sort of goop tangled in her hair, and Kwan thought the school was haunted.

"Apparently someone's been busy," Sam said as Danny sat down. "You need to control your ghost."

"Now how would I do that?" Danny said, "Aside from ordering him around, because that doesn't get me any brownie points."

"You have brownies?" Danny jumped when he heard Prince's voice right beside his ear. "I demand at least one. Preferably all."

"Hello to you too," Danny muttered, offering the invisible ghost a fry.

"Ah, fries being eaten by nothing." Tucker said, messing around with his phone, "Spooky."

"Well I can't eat them," Danny said, "They taste bland without salt."

"Your arteries will thank- Lancer!" Sam jumped up, smirking, "I'll be right back!" She rushed out of the room.

"My arteries will thank Lancer? Sweet. So," Danny said, "Cursed locker?"

"Everyone who's ever had it has died within the year, and then some sort of natural disaster would come and screw up the school." Tucker said. "Speaking of which, you die I die."

"We were weird seven-year-olds," Danny said, watching as the still mostly invisible Prince stole the rest of his fries. "So basically this locker is going to kill me. This day just keeps getting better and better."

"And then there was the fact that Sidney Poindexter's corpse was found in it..."

Danny leaned back as Prince choked on a fry. "Please tell me that's an urban legend."

"Nah, Olivia Marshall's story is- but she had your locker too." Tucker shrugged, "Locker 724 was originally owned by him back in the fifties. Poindexter was the victim of more cruel pranks than anyone in the history of Casper High! Apparently picking on him was a graduation requirement. He set a record for the amount of hours spent in a locker. And then Spring Break came around, which coincidently starts this Saturday. He got shoved into the locker and they forgot him there over the week. During grad that year most of Casper High burned down. The only part they didn't have to rebuild was the hallway with Sidney's locker."

"So I had a dead guy in my locker?" Danny pushed his lunch over to Prince. "That's... nice."

"It's a good thing you believe me," Tucker said, still messing with his phone. "Apparently in the eighties Olivia Marshall didn't believe in the supernatural and set out to prove the locker was safe. Considering that she later decided she was too gay to live and jumped off a bridge, and most of the school flooded, you can guess how that went."

Danny nodded, "I think I'll cause a tornado." Sam rejoined them, carrying a small plastic tote. "Sam, what are you doing?"

"Nothing! Certainly not trying to smuggle frogs out of the biology lab when Lancer isn't looking!" She set the tote down on the table, "You wouldn't know a good place to hide them, would you?"

Danny held up his hands, "Last time I tried to help you I ended up in a dress. You're doing this on your own." He threw a fry at Tucker when his friend snickered.

Danny could see the faintest outline of a person as Prince moved beside Sam. "They're cute. Can I keep them?"

"No, Prince," Danny said, standing up as well. "I'm not even going to ask why we have live frogs. Sam, please put them somewhere else. If Lancer catches me with them then I-" A chunk of meat hit him in the face.

"Hey guys!" Dash's voice rang out as Danny peeled it off, "What do you say we _meat_ my new locker neighbor?"

"Dash..." Kwan said softly.

Danny didn't dignify that pun with a response and glared at Prince when the ghost laughed. "You're really not helping."

"I know," Prince said.

"Fuck off, Dash!" Sam snapped, "Nobody cares about what you have to say!"

Danny turned around, eager to watch Sam chew Dash out, and got hit in the face with a moldy baguette.

Danny set the bread down as Dash and his friends rushed out of the cafeteria.

"Hm," Tucker mused, "I wonder how Dash would feel with a frog in his throat?"

"Or twelve," Prince said, "In his pants." The tote disappeared, "I really don't like him."

Prince disappeared before anyone could order him not to, though Sam was the only one with any intention of doing so. Danny caught sight of her glare and hesitantly raised his hands. "Fine, I'll go stop him." _Or get conveniently stuck somewhere before I can._ Abandoning his lunch, Danny headed towards his locker.

Unfortunately, Sam and Tucker followed him, urging him to try and use his ghost sense to find Prince. When Danny tried to tell them it didn't work like that said power was triggered. Dash, screaming at the top of his lungs, bounced past them. Kwan followed, and upon catching sight of the trio, pushed a handful of bills into Danny's hands. "Here's twenty dollars," He said, "Don't tell anyone about this." He ran after his friend.

Danny handed half of the money to Tucker when Sam refused her share and led the way to where his locker was. Prince and some sort of grayscale ghost with an annoying voice were floating in front of each other.

Prince seemed confused as the grayscale ghost pointed a finger at him. "You're the bully from where I'm standing!"

"Um, floating." Prince corrected.

"Oh, uh, yeah okay. Floating," The other ghost said awkwardly.

Danny looked between Sam and Tucker and whispered, "Anybody have a plan?"

"We scream?" Tucker offered, "Because I'm pretty sure that's Sidney Poindexter."

Danny looked at Sam, "Anybody have a better plan?"

"Let's see how you like being bullied!" Poindexter shouted, raising his hands menacingly. The lockers started to glow green and spray their contents. Danny pulled his friends back around the corner and out of harm's way as Prince turned intangible.

"Spooky," He said, "My turn." He pulled his fist back and punched Poindexter in the jaw. The ghost hit the ground and skid across the floor, landing just past the trio. "If I say please will you go away?"

Poindexter's eyes were glowing red when he sat up and twin green beams shot from them. They hit Prince in the chest, knocking him through a wall. The lockers stopped spewing their contents and Danny heard people scream.

"The frogs!" Sam abruptly said and rushed in the direction Dash had run in. Tucker and Danny shared a confused look before moving after her.

A hand grabbed Danny's wrist and he found himself being pulled through a closed door. Prince let go of him once Danny was steady and held out a hand. "Help me beat him up."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to fight ghosts with you anymore?" Danny said, one eyebrow raised.

"Ghosts is plural. This is only one so it's all okay." He moved his hand a little closer to Danny, "Please?"

Danny rolled his eyes, but grabbed onto Prince's hand and forced the two of them together.

A minute later Danny took control and grabbed Poindexter by his shoulder, "How about we make this easy," Danny tried, not entirely okay with beating up a kid who'd spent so many years being bullied. "You go away and we don't hurt you."

"Your grammar is all wrong," Poindexter said, shoving them off. "There's only one of you, bud!"

"I'm not your bud," Prince said, taking control of the legs and kicking the ghost in his jaw. He was thrown down the hall, knocking into a garbage can which fell on his head. "Buds are baby leaves." Prince moved them forwards, and Danny caught sight of his friends down the hall.

Poindexter phased through the garbage can, glaring at them. "Put an egg in your shoe and beat it, bully!"

"Yum, shoe eggs," Prince said, "My favourite meal."

"I," Poindexter declared, "Am Sidney Poindexter! And wherever there is a single nerd in need," He motioned to Tucker and Sam, who were now carrying the tote of frogs. "I will be there!"

"Hey," Tucker narrowed his eyes, letting go of his part of the tote and leaving Sam to carry it by herself. "Who're you calling a nerd?"

"You," Danny said, "It's the glasses. And the face. And the everything- whoa!" He was cut off when Poindexter tried the eyebeams again. "Hey, watch where you're pointing those things!" Prince took control back and attempted to tackle him, only for the ghost to go intangible. The two crashed into Tucker, and then Danny felt his face hit the lockers.

"I was right," Tucker whispered, looking Danny over. "Are you okay?"

"Is my nose bleeding?"

"No? I... I don't think that's blood. It looks like jam."

"That's nasty," Prince stood them up, and Danny tried to ignore how much his nose hurt. "Let's finish this!"

"With what?" Prince asked.

"Um... fists?" Danny shrugged, "You're the ghost here. You pick something."

"Okay," Sam said, "That's still weird."

Poindexter took out a pen and Prince refused to let them flinch as ink sprayed from it into their face. Poindexter broke out into laughter as Danny snatched back control, hoping he managed to turn them intangible as he tackled Poindexter through the floor.

They hit the ground of a boiler room hard, separating back into two people. The ink was still on Prince's face and Danny could feel blood on his.

"Holy socks," Poindexter said, "There's _two_ of you?!"

Danny groaned and wiped the blood from his upper lip. Prince however moved quickly over to the ghost, energy around his fists. "Dammit, Danny," He said, his sleeves riding up slightly when he moved his arms. Poindexter raised his eyebrows, looking Prince over. "You broke everything!"

"Nah, just my nose. Again." He wiped the blood off his face, looking up at the ghost. "Oh, I'm sorry Prince, was that supposed to be an insult?"

Prince's reply was cut off when Poindexter said, "Prince _Phantom?_"

"Great," Prince whispered.

"_The_ Prince Phantom?" Poindexter moved towards them, "I don't believe it! The entire Ghost Zone's been talking about the rumors, but I thought it was just one of those lies spread by the royals! You're really here! You're really still-" He narrowed his eyes, "And you're _hurting_ people?"

"Mostly me," Danny said, raising a hand. "Not that anyone cares but it's mostly me."

"You're hurting innocent humans!" Poindexter jabbed Prince with a finger, "And attacking innocent ghosts! You're no better than your parents! I wonder what the Master of Time would say if he knew about your deeds, or the Obser-"

"Don't say their name!" Prince held out his hands, shrinking away from Poindexter. He was shaking, and Danny moved a bit closer as a wave of fear seemed to hit him in the face. "Please, I'll do anything, just don't say that name!"

"Why?" Poindexter said, "You think I'll let you get away with doing this? These humans may be outside of their domain but you are not, and I'll make sure you pay for your crimes!"

Prince shook his head and moved his arms close as he stepped back. "P-please just let me explain! I- I- I can't go back there! I- I can't! I can't!"

"You should have thought of that before you attacked these humans!" Poindexter motioned to Danny, who was slowly standing up.

"Prince?" He said softly, "What's he talking about?"

"I didn't attack them!" Prince stepped back, "I- I just- I hurt Danny but I thought he was working with them when I started doing that and I just wanted to get away you don't _understand-"_

"I understand perfectly!" Poindexter moved towards them, "And I'm sure the Observa-"

Danny blew the whistle. Poindexter fell to the ground, much like Prince used to, while said ghost tensed for a second. He took on an oddly blank look for a second, which Danny chose not to comment on. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to blow the whistle again? Prince," The ghost still looked oddly blank, "Why does he keep using your full name?"

Prince tensed for a second before saying in an eerily bland voice, "He's attempting to be proper to someone of my status."

"What status? Prince is your name, not your title." Danny turned to Poindexter, who was looking suspiciously between the two. "And you? Leave him alone! He didn't do anything I didn't want him too!"

Poindexter had stood back up, "You wanted him to attack that poor kid? You made him-" He fell quiet, looking at Prince.

"Um, yeah!" Danny looked back over at Prince, who was still oddly quiet. "Um... Prince Phantom stop doing... whatever it is you're doing!"

Prince shook his head and moved back, holding his hands close to himself. "Danny, what are you doing?"

Danny shrugged, caught sight of Poindexter's narrowed eyes, and stuffed the whistle back in his shirt. "Prince Phantom, um, do the Macarena!"

Danny looked back at Poindexter as Prince groaned, forced to follow the order. "What is it with you humans and this dance?"

"He follows your orders?" Poindexter's question wasn't really meant to be answered.

"Basically, yeah," Danny looked back at Prince, "Okay, um... Prince Phantom stop dancing and uh, go back to Sam and Tucker for a minute."

Prince tensed and while still giving Danny a conflicted look, turned intangible and moved through the roof.

"See?" Danny said, "He's fine, everything's under control, no need to go and tell the Observe-whatevers about him." He turned back and yelped, finding Poindexter to be right in front of him.

"You're controlling him! You made him do those horrible things!" Danny took several awkward steps back, which Poindexter matched. "You're no better than his father was!"

"Okay, I really don't know who or what you're talking about." Danny bumped into some sort of tank- a water heater, maybe- and Poindexter floated to his eye level. "Hey, personal space!"

"You may be outside of the Observants' jurisdiction, but you're not out of mine!" Poindexter declared, turning intangible. "And I can fix everything you broke!"

Danny held up his arms in a wasted effort to protect himself. Poindexter flew right through them and into Danny's body. "H-hey! Hey!" He could barely speak; it was a struggle to speak with his own lips. "What're you doing?!"

"_Giving you a taste of your own medicine, bully!" _Poindexter's voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Danny's eyes _burned_ and every part of his body seemed to be trying to tear itself away.

"No... no, wait! L-listen to me!" Danny struggled to shout, "Dash- and Prince- they- they aren't-" He was thrown back, and a comforting darkness wrapped itself around him. It would be so easy to give up, to quit trying...

"_You may use your skills to harm innocent kids," _Poindexter seemed to say, _"But I sure as sugar won't!"_

_Give it back! _Danny's voice was barely worthy of being called a thought, _give... it... back!_ He lashed out at the darkness around him, screaming at the top of his lungs as if that would do something. His world peeled away, and Danny felt pins and needles stab his skin.

A charge ran through his being and Danny heard himself scream. The world twisted itself and he felt faint. He would have fallen over and thrown up if he had the ability to. Everything was wrong. Everything was wrong...

Danny couldn't remember closing his eyes, but when he opened them he was half stuck in a locker. A grayscale man was standing there, laughing at a joke Danny had missed.

Danny turned his head slightly and saw Poindexter's face looking back at him from the locker's mirror. And once again he _screamed._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch wasn't a fan of large crowds. It made him uncomfortable to potentially have so many people ready to attack him. And the Royal Sympathizers- normally shortened to Royals or RS- were the worst for that. It didn't help that he didn't agree with them at all, technically making him a Rebel Supporter, which meant they would hate him by default. The divide in the Ghost Zone was weird like that. But at least the Rebels' logic made sense! The Royals thought that Pariah didn't deserve to have his family killed. They thought the Ancients were in the wrong to attack him and basically save everyone from his evilness.

Of course, he couldn't tell anyone that, since Tardis was one of the leaders of the Royals and Hourglass was one of their most avid supporters. At least Tempest agreed with him that the Royals were wrong and refused to stay quiet about it. Time Turner kept saying he was neutral because the divide was dumb, but that probably just meant he was too afraid to admit he was Rebel.

Stopwatch followed awkwardly behind Hourglass, both his hands wrapped around her right wrist as she weaved carefully through the crowded Rebels. They reached something which might have been a tree at one point before finally stopping. "Wait here," She said, "I need to go and um, talk to people."

"Why do I have to stay here?" Stopwatch asked, "I'm only at this thing because you didn't want to come alone."

Hourglass opened her mouth, closed it, and moved quickly back into the crowd. Stopwatch watched her go, unsure of whether or not he should attempt to follow her. He decided against it and floated up slightly, trying to get a good view of everything in case he needed to make a quick escape.

The island they'd gathered on was huge and packed. It was terrifying to think of the fact that there were so many ghosts who could think the same wrong thing. What if they figured out he wasn't one of them? He'd heard so many horror stories of what could happen. Stopwatch flattened himself against the tree, hands resting right in front of his death wound. He just had to act cool. Be social. Trick them into believing he was on their side. He could do that. He- he could do that.

Stopwatch moved slowly towards someone a few years older than him, hanging out awkwardly by him. "Um... hi?" _Act natural act natural- wait what is natural for these guys?_

The blue-skinned ghost was dressed in mostly white, but had his black hair in a similar style to Infinite's. "What do you want?"

_Wow you're a dick. _Stopwatch hid his fear. He just needed to get through this.

"Positgen," Another, slightly shorter ghost jabbed the first with elbow. Stopwatch frowned, noticing the other ghost didn't seem to have a face. _That's not normal. _"You're scaring him."

"I'm not scared," Stopwatch said, attempting to figure out what the hell a 'Positgen' was. "This is my happy face."

"...Right," Faceless looked up at Positgen- _that's not even a word what the hell-_ before his form seemed to twirl in on itself. A moment later, as he floated back in confusion, the sight in front of him was almost like looking in a mirror. An _angry _mirror.

"You have a strange definition of happy, kid." Positgen said. Stopwatch's attention snapped away from that damn shapeshifter and to the blue-skinned one.

"Don't call me that _name!"_ He fired a violet ectoblast at his face, which Positgen blocked with a shield.

"Oh, you want to fight?" Positgen dropped his shield and moved towards Stopwatch.

"Positgen, please," The shapeshifter was back to being faceless, and sounded annoyed when the other ghost phased through the hand placed on his arm. "I would suggest you avoid beating up the child."

"Too bad," He cracked his knuckles, ignoring the sigh from that damned shapeshifter. "I'm going to punch a teenager."

_I knew it. I knew I'd have to fight someone. Fuck, fuck... whatever, I can do this. Normal combat, avoid the reality manipulation for now... yes. This'll work._ Stopwatch teleported slightly back, avoiding the punch would have hit his jaw. "Ow, my nothing." He coated his hands in ectoplasm, floating back a little more.

The other ghosts were watching them, muttering amongst themselves. Stopwatch ignored their words and tuned them out. He struck with a green blast; weak, easy, and there was a chance that it could end all this before it started. It didn't, unfortunately, and the other ghost easily deflected his attack. _Fine, guess I actually have to fight._

Stopwatch dodged the fist aimed at his face by shifting to the left and kicking Positgen in his shin. He moved farther to the left, throwing three successive blue blasts at his face. Two missed while the third hit its mark in Positgen's gut. That earned him a pink blast to the face, and Stopwatch bit his lip as it stung his scar. He was thrown back, his ankle hitting part of the tree. Positgen came after him, grabbing onto his wrist and yanking them both down.

The ground was hard and it hurt. Positgen straightened up, lifting a foot up and about to place it on Stopwatch's chest. He thought he'd won. He didn't even think to turn around in time to see the hastily-made duplicate kick him in the side of his head. Stopwatch switched his consciousness to said duplicate, letting his other form disperse. Positgen had landed on his stomach, and energy curled around Stopwatch's twitching fingers as the other attempted to stand. He crashed back down to the ground, anchored by a rope that didn't exist to anyone but him.

"Let me repeat myself," Stopwatch said, "Do _not_ call me by that name. _Ever. _My name is Stopwatch. Don't call me by anything else." His fingers stopped moving and the energy fell away. "Are we done here?"

Positgen stood slowly, looking over his shoulder at Stopwatch. That shapeshifter was in the watching crowd, wearing a hat now, and had his palm resting on where his face should be. Beside him, a grey-skinned ghost in a cool looking scarf rolled his eyes and slipped deeper into the crowd. Stopwatch watched him go, deciding he wanted a scarf. A lot of the ghosts had turned to watch the fight apparently, though Stopwatch recognized none of them. He bit down on his bottom lip and silently cursed; whoever it was that worked for Them had definitely seen that.

Caught up in his thoughts, he missed Positgen's sucker punch until it was too late to block. He was thrown back into the tree which he hit awkwardly and wrong, sucking in a breath as part of his left arm snapped. He got back up as fast as he could, ignoring the pain and ready to continue.

"Enough!" Hourglass appeared between them, her hood down and her hands out stretched. "Don't- don't make me fight you both! I will! I can and I will if you don't stop!"

"Hourglass?" Stopwatch frowned, rubbing the broken part of his arm. "What're you doing?"

Positgen frowned, "Wait, you know her?"

Hourglass snapped her attention from Stopwatch to him, her braid swinging around to her shoulder. "I thought you were better than this."

"Aw, Hourglass!" He took a step forwards, "Come on Little Miss, don't be like that! We were just-"

"You broke his arm, Positgen!" She motioned to Stopwatch, "T-that's not okay!"

Stopwatch frowned, "Wait, how'd you know my arm was broken?"

Hourglass didn't reply, instead choosing to silently lift up her hood and pull it over her face.

The ghost with the cool scarf reappeared, awkwardly forcing his way through the crowd. He shoved the shapeshifter aside, sticking out his arm for another ghost to slip under.

Time Turner straightened up, looked between Stopwatch and Hourglass for a minute before turning back to the ghost who'd gone to find him. "I do hope you realize that I hate you."

"I'm okay with that," Time Turner's friend said, pulling his hand away from the now angry shapeshifter.

"I like your scarf!" Stopwatch called as Time Turner approached him. The other ghost ducked back into the crowd, probably to go stand beside someone he hadn't offended.

"Don't encourage him," Time Turner said, tossing his first aid kit from hand to hand. "Why are you getting in fights when you should be resting?"

"I'm fine!"

"You were stabbed in the face a couple days ago. I don't care if Clockwork healed you; you're not fine."

"Um, we- we should move." Hourglass grabbed Stopwatch's right arm, pulling him off to the side. Positgen had retreated back to the crowd, hanging out beside that shapeshifter. Stopwatch glared at him until Time Turner stepped between them.

"Don't do that." He turned back to the crowd, "Take a picture; it'll last longer!"

"Calm down," There was a ghost sitting on the tree now. Her hair was literally blue fire, and Hourglass leaned away from it. "If you're done, we'd like to start."

"Sorry Ember," Hourglass whispered. The ghost floated back up to the top of the tree, and Time Turner didn't bother turning around to pay attention.

"A tree," He muttered, "Of all the things, they talk from the top of a damn dead tree."

Ember cleared her throat, and Stopwatch tried to pretend that being so close to a high-ranking Royal Sympathizer wasn't terrifying. "Alright, stop staring at the injured kid. Positgen, if you do something like that again you're going to have a little talk with Tardis, capeesh?" A moment later, she stared down at them. "So, since all of our leaders like to get themselves in shit with the Rebels, I'm going to be delivering the important news. If you don't like that, then fuck you. Everyone wants to know what's so important that you all had to come here, right? Even some such as Ghostwriter, who as much as he likes to pretend otherwise knows we're in the right."

"Don't drag me into this!" Someone in the crowd called. He sounded kind of like Time Turner's friend. "I only came here once!"

"Whatever, we Royals take care of our own. Even if they don't want to admit they're on our side." She looked over at Hourglass for a moment, "As you all know, Skulker recently went to check out that stable portal. On the other side he found something that none of the Rebels can know about." Ember took a moment, building tension. "The rumors are true; Warrior Boy and Dark have been sighted."

Someone screamed, Time Turner rolled his eyes and attempted to put Stopwatch's arm in a sling, and Hourglass whispered, "Prince."

"That is impossible," Someone said. Was it Time Turner's friend again? "They haven't existed for over two thousand years. There is no way in hell that they could have-"

"You can argue all you want," Ember said, "I'm telling you what I heard directly from Skulker. And if he says Warrior Boy is still a clever little shit who is dangerous, and that Dark is pretending to be someone else, then I trust him. We need to get rid of those two before the Rebels get their hands on them. Whoever can bring them back to Skulker will get whatever it is they desire. Tardis will be providing it."

"Wow," Time Turner crossed his arms as a mutter went through the crowd, "I _know_ nobody's told Tardis about this. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I know, right?" Stopwatch said, "Who names their kid Warrior Boy?"

"Um," Hourglass spoke up, "In- in all due respect, I- I don't want to be a burden or inconvenience or anything... but you said Dark was pretending to b-be someone...?"

"Unfortunately," Ember said, "He told Skulker his name was Prince Phantom."

"Well," Time Turner said, "This is going to go badly."

"That _bastard!_" Hourglass shouted. Stopwatch jumped back, knocking into Time Turner. "How dare he?! How dare he take on that name and- and- and-"

"Huh. I think I died a bit," Time Turner said, pushing Stopwatch off of him.

"Shush!" Hourglass snapped, floating up. "Everyone, listen up 'cause I'm not supposed to be telling anyone this! Prince Phantom is still in existence and stuck in the Human Realm." She raised a hand and the quickly rising confused muttering ceased. "If the Rebels or those- those- those _monsters_ get a hold of him he's dead! We have to protect him! We need to bring him back here before they do!"

"Question," Stopwatch said, "What's going on?"

Time Turner looked over at him, apparently tuning out the shouts of agreement rumbling through the crowd. "You know who Prince Phantom is?"

"I think so, kind of. I tried to kill him once."

Time Turner raised his eyebrows, "Of course you did. Prince Phantom is-"

"Excuse me," Time Turner's friend with the cool scarf- right, Ghostwriter, that was his name- had squeezed his way back through the crowd, coming stand in front of Ember's tree. "As much as I would like to comment on everything wrong going on at this disaster you call a meeting- and there are a _lot _of things- I'm going to push that aside for the moment. You see there is something very obviously going on here and you should all be ashamed of yourselves for not realizing it. Chances are pretty high that 'Dark' _probably_ isn't lying about his identity."

"Prince would never-" Hourglass started.

"And how would you know?" Ghostwriter said, "The only things we really know about him come from old stories."

"Warrior Boy and Dark killed his family-"

"_Actually_ there's no solid proof they killed anyone aside from the word of-"

A burst of blue fire exploded between them, and Hourglass crashed back to the ground. She clung to Stopwatch's right arm, shivering as she tried to make herself appear smaller.

"If you two are finished," Ember continued, sitting on a lower branch with one leg crossed. "I'd like to continue. Go stand beside her and insult her quietly if you have to."

"Fine," Ghostwriter moved to stand near their group. "This is getting worse by the second. They actually believe the stories she's telling."

"Want me to help you move so it's harder for them to find you again?" Time Turner offered.

"I'm not sure if that would work," Ghostwriter said, "I feel like they'd follow us, or harass you to make us come."

Stopwatch sidestepped away from their whispered conversation, turning his attention back to Ember.

"I also need to make sure everyone knows that Walker does not like us, as Skulker has had the pleasure of learning, and his laws are getting stupider by the minute. If he finds any reason to think that you've gone through the stable portal or and brought something through it, you will be arrested. We're setting up a bail fund for those who need it."

"Walker takes money?" Stopwatch frowned, "Why would he want that?"

"It goes to the Observants," Hourglass whispered, "They give it to Tardis."

"Why would anyone give her money?"

"Question," Positgen- _your name is still dumb-_ asked, "What currencies are acceptable?"

"Any human ones." Ember looked the group over, "That's it. You can go beat each other up or whatever you want now."

The crowd chanted her name for a minute, which Ember seemed to particularly enjoy, before it became significantly less packed.

"Finally," Time Turner said, "Sweet freedom. Stopwatch, if you break another bone on your way back I'm locking you in a room."

Stopwatch replied with a thumbs up and watched him leave. He turned to Hourglass, who was still clinging tightly to his arm. "Are you okay?"

"I really don't like fire," She whispered.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Oh Jesus Christ where am I this is not normal this is so not normal this looks like something from Grandpa Fenton's yearbook why is the school in black and white this is so not _normal-_"

"Hey Poindexter!" Danny stopped just in time to avoid crashing into someone much taller than him. "You've got a spot on your shirt!" Danny frowned, looking down. The guy flicked his finger up, hitting Danny in the nose. "Hah, made ya look!" He stepped aside as everyone in the hallway started laughing. Danny glared after him, turned to walk away, and tripped over someone's foot.

"Have a good trip, Poindexter! See you next fall!"

Danny lashed out, kicking her in the ankle. His foot went right through her. _What the heck?_

He couldn't touch any of them. They were free to do what they wanted to him, however and whenever they wanted. Danny couldn't fight back; it was as if they weren't actually there.

"Nope," He said, pulling himself away from some sort of greaser. "Nope, not doing this, nope, goodbye world I am gone-" He pushed the doors open, finding nothing outside but a twisting emptiness filled with black and gray. "Oooookay nice to know that I can't run away that way-" A bell cut him off. Danny looked around in terror. _They had bells in the fifties?_

The hallway shivered and shifted, and when Danny blinked he found himself sitting in a desk. Nobody seemed to hear his surprised shout and he looked around, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Ah, Mr. Fenton, so nice of you to join us."

Reflex caused Danny to look up when he heard his name. The man standing in the doorway was huge, in terms of muscles and height. He bent down as a small blonde woman stood upon her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

"See you after class, James." She left as _James Fenton_ awkwardly waved a hand.

"Bye, Alice..." He turned back to the teacher, "Hello, teacher whose name I can't remember."

As the teacher lectured him Danny nearly screamed. There was no possible way this could be Grandpa Fenton. Grandpa Fenton was _not_ dead.

Danny shrunk away from the man who couldn't under any sort of circumstances actually be his grandfather as he sat down beside him. He turned awkwardly, seeming to catch Danny staring. "What?"

"James William Fenton," Danny whispered.

"Why do you know my middle name?"

"It's tradition in your family that children carry on some form of their Grandparents' name." Danny said, "Right?"

"How do you know this?"

"You're not dead," Danny whispered, "You can't be dead. Please tell me you're not dead."

Grandpa James Fenton raised his eyebrows, "No... I'm not dead. Do I look like a ghost to you?"

Danny nodded, trying not to break down.

"Well I'm not," He shrugged, "Now shut up, Poindexter. I don't want to get in trouble."

"My name is Daniel James Fenton," Danny said quickly. "I'm your grandson and you can't be dead."

James raised his eyebrows again and threw his hand in the air, "Ms. Tasha, can I sit somewhere else? Poindexter's being weird."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny's parents ran around the corner about a minute after Danny had disappeared through the floor. Mr. Lancer was moving after them with Jazz at his heels.

"Is this where everyone was running from? Is it true?" Maddie asked, skidding to a halt. "Did you kids just witness a ghost attack?!"

"Fear not, young ones!" Jack declared, holding his hands in the air. He was wearing a pair of sparking metal gloves which probably weren't safe. "These gloves are made for grabbing!"

Lancer and Jazz had reached their sides, and while Lancer just seemed annoyed Jazz had taken up glaring at Sam. A little behind them, a bit of black hair poked through the floor.

Tucker rushed forwards so that nobody could see Danny come up while Sam returned Jazz's glare. "No ghost here, Mr. and Mrs. F!"

"Just a girl trying to create a diversion for her own needs," Lancer looked down at Sam, holding out his hands. "The frogs, Miss Manson."

Sam held the tote tighter. "No."

Lancer rolled his eyes and yanked the tote from Sam's hands. He stepped back when she went to kick him, looking back at Jazz. "Make sure your parents don't destroy the school." He moved off in one direction while Danny's parents ran off in another.

Jazz didn't move, looking at Sam. "You stole frogs?"

"We raise them specifically to be killed and cut up," Sam said, "We don't do that to puppies, so why would we do that to frogs?"

Tucker was honestly a bit surprised that Danny didn't give a horrified gasp at the suggestion that anyone would dissect a dog.

"Whatever," Jazz handed Danny a wipe from her purse. "Here Danny. Are you okay?"

"Fine," Danny's voice sounded a bit off, but that probably had something to do with the fact that he'd smashed his face into a locker.

Jazz raised an eyebrow before turning back to Sam. "I don't know why your cousin is here, but you shouldn't leave him alone like that. He doesn't speak the language; what if something actually had happened and he needed help?"

It took Tucker a moment to realize she was talking about Prince. Sam didn't seem to have the same conflict. "Do you have a reason to be here, or did you just feel like being a bitch?"

Jazz frowned, looked over at Danny and Tucker, and moved off in the same direction her parents had gone.

"You need to be more careful, dude," Tucker said, turning back to Danny. He was holding the wipe on his face, not making much of an effort to get the blood off of it. "Your parents and Lancer almost saw that."

Danny smiled. Tucker was about to ask why he'd done so when Danny was yanked away from him.

Prince grabbed Danny by his wrist and threw him against the lockers, pinning him there. "Get out."

"Danny!" Sam moved forwards, "Prince Phantom, let him go!"

Prince tensed, pulling back halfway across the hall. Sam dragged Tucker over and put him right in front of Danny, while she moved towards Prince. Prince wasn't paying her any attention, instead glaring past them. "Let me-"

"I don't care!" Sam said, "You're not allowed to hurt him. I thought I made myself clear."

"But..." Prince frowned when Sam stepped directly in front of him and floated up a little so he could continue glaring at Danny. "That's- that's really- he fooled you? That worked? Are you stupid?"

"Hey!" Tucker snapped.

"He's not even trying to hide himself!" Prince said, motioning to Danny. "How can you not see that that's not D-"

"Prince Phantom," Danny said, his voice still sounding weird. "Stay away from... my friends!"

Prince tensed, arms shaking. "I- I'm gonna stop you. I'm gonna. I- I-"

"Prince Phantom," Danny repeated, much harsher this time, "Get away from us!"

Prince disappeared, and Tucker gave his friend a confused look. Something seemed off. "Are you sure you're okay, Danny?"

Danny hesitated for a little too long before replying, "Yeah. I'm right like Ike, Mike! What do we do now?"

Sam frowned, coming to Tucker's side. "Why does your voice sound so weird?"

"Uh... puberty?"

"And what happened to Poindexter?" Tucker narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, that square?" He walked past them, moving down the hallway. Tucker and Sam moved to catch up as Danny continued talking. "He flew the coop, permanent like."

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before Sam raised an eyebrow, "Danny, what the actual fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Danny waved them off and kept walking. Tucker could hear the sounds of someone getting frustrated as they turned the corner, and stopped abruptly as he realized they were coming from Dash.

"Come on, give me my soda!" He beat his fist on the vending machine, ignoring Kwan's attempts to calm him. "Stop being broken!" He kicked it, probably breaking the machine more.

"Well, time to go in the other direction and avoid the angry Dash," Tucker said. Danny, for some strange reason, didn't take the chance to avoid his bully. Instead he walked up to Dash, completely ignoring Kwan's motions to turn around and run away.

"Hey," Danny said, "Let me help you out with that, pal." He leaned against the machine, intangibly sticking his arm in.

"Oh no," Sam said, "Prince broke him." She grabbed Tucker by the wrist and pulled them up behind Danny. He'd managed to get Dash's drink out of the machine, somehow.

Dash drank it down quickly and crushed the can in his fist. "Thanks, Fenton."

"Eh, no problemo." Danny waved a hand, which was thankfully solid now.

Kwan stepped up to Dash's side, and the two exchanged a look. "Hey, you know... I'm a little tight on quarters," Dash said, "Do you think you could get a few more of those for me and my pals?"

"You betcha!" Danny said, sticking his hand back in the machine.

"Danny!" Sam whispered, "That's stealing!"

"You're stealing for _Dash,_" Tucker pointed out as Dash and Kwan moved down the hall to get the rest of the A-list. "Maybe we should go find your sister."

Danny gathered up the cans and shrugged, "I'm sure that poor kid has had more than his fair share of quarters stolen by the vicious bullies in this school. It's time somebody evened the score."

Tucker raised an eyebrow. This _was_ Danny, and he was really sarcastic, but still. Something was wrong.

Danny walked off, handing Dash and the rest of the A-list a can each. He said something about egg creams as he did so, and Tucker shot Sam a look.

"Well," She said, "This is new."

"Here's to Fenton!" Dash said, holding his drink in the air.

"This is weird," Tucker said, "Everything about this is really weird."

"Prince weird?"

"Prince weird."

The bell rang and Danny flinched. Everyone went off in their separate directions, leaving Danny confused in the middle of the hallway.

"Danny," Sam said, "Do you want to hang out in the library again with us during art?"

"I have art?" Danny frowned.

"Art and then gym," Tucker clarified. "But we still have to finish our project from last week, so you should join us in the library."

"We'll go with you," Sam said, "Miss Miller already knows where we'll be. We just need to tell your teacher."

Tucker reached Danny's side and threw his arm around his friend's shoulder. "Come on, we'll go with you!" He led Danny towards his classroom.

Prince had been ordered to stay away from them, but not Danny. And as much as Tucker wanted to believe his friend could take care of himself, it would be better this way. It'd be better to avoid leaving Danny alone with the ghost for as long as possible.

.-.-.-.-.-.

James Fenton spun around and slammed his fist into a locker, startling his future grandson. "You got a reason for following me, Poindexter?"

"I'm your grandson and you're not dead?" Danny said.

James ran a hand through his hair, looking over the now empty hallway. "Look, what happened last night was a mistake. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, is that what you wanted? Now do us all a favor and stop being weird. You're going to get yourself killed."

"Honestly if Poindexter died again I wouldn't be sad."

James' glare softened, "No, don't- don't say that. I'd be sad if you died, okay?"

"Me, your grandson, or Poindexter? You're going to have to be specific."

"You can drop it now, Sid. I- I just can't do this at school." James said, "Spring Break starts tomorrow. I'll have my sister give you a call; she knows about... what happened. She'll set something up. She could be our cover."

Danny raised his eyebrow up as far as he could, "Um, what?"

Someone else turned the corner, though James didn't notice them. "And having a girlfriend will totally boost your status, especially since she's in college."

"I'm not dating my great aunt." Danny stepped back, "Also, turn around."

James looked over his shoulder and jumped, staring at the man who was somehow even taller than he was. "Whatcha doing with Poindexter, Fenton?"

"Nothing!" James held his hands up, "I- I was just-"

Three more guys had appeared behind that one, and when Danny looked behind him he saw five more approaching. "I heard that you two got a little close at the dance last night."

"Me? Close to _Poindexter?_" James sounded nervous and horrified, nothing like the tone he'd used when they were alone. "Steve, I know you're dumb, but really?"

"Uh..." Danny attempted to use his future grandfather as a human shield, "I don't think you should be insulting them." _I have no idea what's going on here._

"Shut up," James whispered.

"What're you whispering to him?" Steve said, "Are you talking about what _amazing_ things you'll do once you're alone together?"

"Steve, drop it." James said, "You want proof I don't care about the nerd, especially that way? Fine by me." He opened up a locker, nearly hitting Danny in the face with it. He could clearly see the number on it; 724.

"Crap," He muttered.

James picked up 'Poindexter' by the back of his shirt and shoved him in the locker. "I'll come get you out as soon as they leave," He whispered, and the door slammed shut.

Danny frowned, attempting to shift himself so he was less cramped. "Why do I feel like he's not coming back?" His breath fogged up the mirror which had somehow ended up in front of his face, though Danny could barely see it in the dim light. "Wow, this should probably be a lot more uncomfortable than it is." The world in the mirror seemed to shift, and Danny watched in confusion as a scene appeared. It was the hallway of his school, but with one key difference; it was in full colour.

Danny pressed his face against the mirror, eyes wide. Sam and Tucker walked by, each with an arm around the shoulders of Danny's body.

"Sam! Tucker!" He attempted and failed to beat on the mirror. "That's not me! Sam! Tucker! _Help me!"_

Prince appeared in the hallway the second it was empty. He narrowed his eyes and glared in the direction they had gone off in. "Stupid humans," He muttered, "He's going to get trapped or killed and they won't even notice because they're so _stupid-_"

Sick of hearing his friends be insulted, snapped out "Hey!"

Prince yelped, flattening himself against the opposite wall and staring at the open locker. "Poindexter? Wait- no, no but... he's supposed to... what?"

"Stop insulting my friends," Danny said, "I have enough going on without dealing with you terrorizing them."

Prince blinked, taking a step forwards. "Danny?"

"Yeah?" He asked, trying to shift into a less cramped position.

"Why are you in his body?"

"How should I know?" Danny would have thrown his arms in the air if he was able to move more than a few inches. "Ghosts don't make any sense!"

Prince frowned, looking around. "We need to get you out of there."

"No, really?"

"But he ordered me to stay away from your friends," Prince said, "And they won't leave him alone." He moved his hands through his hair, getting them tangled in it. "They think that they're protecting you but- but they're not and- and-" He gripped his hair and pulled, looking down at the ground and shaking slightly.

Danny bit down on his lip, a wave of guilt rolling over him. "We can fix this," He said, "We just need a plan."

"How?" Prince whispered, "I don't know what- but I'm supposed to-" He pulled his hair a little more, and Danny flinched as he felt it too.

"Prince, stop that," He said, "We need to think-"

"About what?" The guilt was getting stronger by the second. "I can't get to either of you. I don't know what to do. I'm supposed to be good at figuring out stuff like this but I don't know what to do!"

"We just need a plan!" Danny said, "Stop panicking and try thinking! You can't get to them, but that doesn't mean someone else can't for you! We- we need someone to relay the message! This is how I came in, I think, so-"

"And it's where Poindexter came out," Prince said. "But people don't know about me. They'd get scared. Your- your sister kind of does, but if we try to explain she won't believe me."

"Darn," Danny's back was starting to cramp, "Who knows about you?"

"Your friends," Prince said, "Lunch Lady, Skulker, ectopuses, that thing from the science fair..."

"Wait, the what?"

"That's it," Prince said, "None of them will help." He looked up, dropping his hands to his sides and taking a breath in, "Do you think your parents would-"

"_No!"_ Danny cut him off, "We are not telling my parents about this. I am going to be grounded until I am dead for not telling them about you."

Prince held his arms close to himself now, and Danny's guilt significantly lessened. _Wait, what just happened?_ "Well we have to get you out somehow. Poindexter's going to go to_ them_ if we leave him alone, and I can't go back. S-so if telling your parents is what we need to do-"

"Beware!"

Prince's head snapped to the left, and Danny could barely see bits of the Box Ghost in his view. "Go _away!"_ Prince shouted, and a thin layer of frost crept along the lockers behind him.

_The Box Ghost? _"Wait!" Danny said, poking the mirror. Both ghosts turned and seemed to face him. "Prince, I know what to do!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

They had a substitute teacher in gym that day, and he didn't particularly seem to care what the students did. That led to Sam and Tucker standing off to the side as Danny joined in a game of football. Dash handed him the ball and the rest of Danny's team abandoned him. The opposing team rushed in, tackling her friend all together.

Sam winced, exchanging a look with Tucker. "Well, it was nice knowing him."

"Think I could have his computer?" Tucker joked.

When she opened her eyes again, Danny was somehow not dead and running for the opposing end of the football field. He made it and threw the ball of the ground, jumping up and doing a little victory dance.

"Fenton's got game," Dash said, "Who knew?"

"Since when can Danny play sports?" Sam asked.

"Aside from swimming? He can't," Tucker said, "He turned intangible."

"Oh," As cool as Danny's powers were, that was still weird.

"There's a ghost in here, I can feel it in my boots!" Sam stepped back as Danny's dad ran past the bleacher to their left, his wife at his side. "And I'm not leaving this campus until my gloves grab some ghosts!"

"How mad do you think Danny would be if we pointed them in Prince's direction?" Tucker whispered.

"Uh, very?"

"Damn."

Maddie held what Danny had described a while ago as a 'weirdo spoopy ghost tracker' in her hands. She pointed it in Danny's direction and frowned, "That can't be right; Danny's not a ghost. Hm, at this rate we'll be staking out the school all night."

"In that case I'll need to use the little ghost hunter's room," Jack said, suddenly noticing Sam and Tucker. "Hey, you two. Hold these! Where I'm going there's no need for that much power." He passed them each a glove before running off.

"That's weird," Sam said, "Danny's not a ghost. I thought he said that thing only picked up- _Prince._" That bastard.

"He wouldn't attack Danny when there are so many people around," Tucker asked, "Would he?"

"I don't know. Go get his whistle from the change room; I'll cause a distraction."

"Hey, Danny!" She dropped hand Tucker her glove and rushed over, "That was excellent. I didn't know you could play sports." _Normally because you start bitching if you have to walk more than a couple blocks._

Danny smiled at her, but his attention was soon pulled away by Dash and Kwan.

"Party at Fenton's house!" Dash declared, pumping his fist in the air. A cheer rumbled through the students, and the substitute didn't even look up from his phone to acknowledge it.

"Hot dog!" Danny said, "Where does he live?"

"It's your house, bonehead." Kwan put a hand on Danny's shoulder, "Is he hilarious or what?"

Danny smiled. Sam however, just fixed him with an annoyed look. _Free soda, a touchdown, and the opportunity to trash a classmate's living room. How easily the letter jacket and pom-pom set is swayed. _She grabbed her 'save the frogs' badge, pulled it out her shirt, and set her sights on the jock closest to Danny.

"Oh Kwan!" She held it up, "You simply must where one of these badges! It's all the rage!"

"Uh, I don't know..." He stepped back, pulling his hand off of Danny's shoulder.

Danny looked hurt for a moment before grabbing the badge. "Hey, boss badge! Can I have one?" He didn't wait for an answer and instead pinned it on his chest.

_Great, now nobody's going to want one._ Sam was doing her best not to make it obvious how much Danny's actions had bothered her when the rest of their class approached.

"Hey, I want one!" Dash said.

"Me too," Paulina said, and Sam tuned her out.

"Give me one, yo!" Kwan said, "I started this trend!"

"Hang on, folks!" Sam said, "There's plenty more in my locker where that one came from. Danny, come with me?"

Danny gave the teacher, who still wasn't paying them much attention, a hesitant look. "Uh... sure!"

"Great!" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the school. "Prince was lurking around you. Did he do anything?"

"No," Danny said. Sam grabbed both his arms and stared into his eyes, looking for any hint that he was lying. He looked a bit uncomfortable with her touching him. "I've always been a fream but now I'm killing it with the bulls, so can I go back to that?"

Sam raised her eyebrow, "A fream?"

"Hey!" Tucker joined the group, whistle hanging from his hand and metal gloves in his backpack. "Why'd you guys come in?"

"To get more badges!" Danny said, pointing to the one he was wearing.

"...Cool," He handed Sam the whistle, "You can keep that for now. Are we going to go back to class or-"

"Beware!" Sam turned around, facing the Box Ghost. He had the tote of frogs Lancer had taken from her. "I, the Box Ghost, would like to offer you these frogs if you would go to locker 724!"

"Why would we want to go to Danny's locker?" Sam asked.

"I get five hours of help finding _my_ box if you do!"

"That makes no sense," Tucker said. "Go away. We're avoiding the cursed locker."

_Does he want us to let Poindexter out? _"Who put you up to this?" She gripped the whistle tighter, "Was it Prince?!"

"It was the imprint claiming to be a human!" The Box Ghost said, "Beware his powers of persuasion!"

Danny snatched the whistle from her hand and stormed forwards, "You tell that _imprint_ that this is my place now!" He brought it up to his mouth and blew.

The Box Ghost dropped the box and disappeared. At the same time, Danny crashed to the ground and started shaking.

"Shit," Tucker said, "I think he's having a seizure!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

The center of Danny's chest twisted and he sucked in a breath. This was wrong. This was so wrong. There was something pounding there, twisting and jerking and it was so, _so_ _wrong-_

It didn't fully register with him when Prince fell to the ground, or when the Box Ghost returned. The first thing that actually registered with Danny was Prince saying, "I _hate_ conflicting orders."

"What... what the heck was that?" Danny asked, looking between Prince and the Box Ghost, who floated awkwardly off to the side.

Prince chewed on his lip for a moment before turning back to the Box Ghost. "It didn't work?"

The Box Ghost shook his head and Danny groaned. "Darn it! If they hadn't ordered Prince to stay away he could just go a drag them here! And Boxy, don't offer to do it or our deal is off."

The Box Ghost didn't say anything and Danny shifted his attention back to Prince. Apparently when the Box Ghost was little his parents had left him in a box on the side of the road. He was convinced that if he found that box he would find them, and so Danny had offered five hours helping him search if the ghost could help free him. That didn't mean he was okay with working with the ghost, though; there was no part of him that hadn't protested it.

"I think we need to go to your parents," Prince said, "They're here. I can find them. We can-"

Danny cut him off, "Do you want to be dissected?"

"It's better than going back to _them!_"

"Them?" The Box Ghost asked.

"Drop it," Prince had started playing with his sleeves, "Any better plans?"

"They ordered you?" The Box Ghost asked, glancing at Danny for a moment. Prince ran a hand through his hair before turning to face the other ghost.

"Yes, they ordered me!" His eyes glowed a little brighter as he spoke, "People can do that now because _they_ got mad when I tried to run away the first time! Poindexter ordered me to stay away from his friends because they're too stupid to tell when it's not Danny because all humans are-"

"Prince!" Danny snapped, "What did I say about insulting them?!"

"His friends?" The Box Ghost said, "You said that imprint had no friends."

Danny opened his mouth, then closed it. "Wait," He _had _said something like that. He'd mentioned that Poindexter didn't have actual friends when convincing the Box Ghost to help them; his grandpa certainly wasn't a friend- he'd left him to die- and nobody else tolerated Poindexter. "Wait!"

Prince's face lit up and he did a little flip in the air. "Loopholes! I love loopholes! Poindexter has no friends and when he said that he was talking about your friends and he said nothing about staying away- I'll be right back!" He flew off down the hallway.

Danny glanced over at the Box Ghost. "Go help him." The ghost nodded and flew off.

Left alone now, Danny shifted to a less uncomfortable position. His entire body hurt. If this was what Poindexter spent his time doing, then the 'Grand Theft Danny' thing was almost excusable.

Almost.

Danny leaned back as much as he could, attempting to straighten his back. How had he gotten out last time? He'd just... switched with Poindexter... then lived his life...? _This makes no sense. Ghosts make no sense._

Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, _I can do this. Just a little longer, and then it'll all be okay. I can do this._

Tucker's scream caused Danny to open his eyes back up, wondering why no teachers had come to stop this, as both ghosts returned. Prince had dragged Sam and Tucker in by their wrists, and the Box Ghost cut off any orders they tried to give with a well-placed "Beware!"

Prince dropped them in front of the locker, "Ta-da! I love loopholes!"

"Poindexter?" Sam narrowed her eyes, "I knew you were behind this!"

"I'm not Poindexter!" Danny snapped, "It's me, Danny!"

"Yeah right," Tucker said, "They made us leave Danny in the hallway."

"Poindexter took over my body!" Danny said, "Guys, please, you have to believe me, this place is really freaking me out-"

"You're not Danny," Sam cut him off, "I think we can tell the difference between _you_ and our friend."

The way she spat his name hurt, but not as much as when they turned to leave. "Sam, wait! Um- um- in second grade Tucker threw up in your lunch box but we told you Ricky Marsh did it! Tucker, um- um- Audrey! I know about Audrey!"

Sam was looking at him in confusion now, while Tucker had frozen in his tracks. "Wait, Tucker did what?"

"Poindexter," Tucker's voice was cold, "I don't know how the fuck you found out about her," He turned around and Danny knew he had crossed a line. "But you can shut the fuck up. Prince Phantom, break that mirror."

"No, wait!" The center of Danny's chest twisted painfully again and Prince shook as he pulled his fist back. "Tucker, please, you don't-"

"Shut up!" Tucker snapped, "Danny wouldn't bring her up! He would know better! I don't care what you are but you're. Not. Danny!"

Danny flinched as Prince moved to punch the mirror, waiting for the impact that was sure to come. But the center of his chest twisted again, and Danny gave the mirror a confused look.

Prince had stopped his fist, though it was still shaking. Something twisted in Danny's chest again, the echoed feeling of wrongness spreading throughout him. "I have orders never to punch Danny," Prince said, "They came from him. His take priority over yours." He snapped his hand back and slapped Tucker's face.

"Leave him alone!" Danny snapped, and froze as he realized he hadn't spoken alone.

Poindexter continued just outside of Danny's view, "Don't hurt my friends!"

"You have no friends!" Prince snapped back, "Literally nobody likes you _and_ your voice is dumb!"

"Prince..." Danny said, "Prince, no..."

"Who the hell asked for your opinion?!" Poindexter shouted, "I-" He was cut off when the Box Ghost hit him with a box of cleaning supplies, knocking him closer to the group. Tucker had shifted his backpack around and was pulling the metal gloves out of it. _Are those my parents' gloves?_

"Sorry for doubting you," Tucker said, putting on the gloves. "Hey, Poindexter!" He grabbed Danny's body, lifting him up a little, "Danny doesn't swear."

"_Noooo!"_ Poindexter wailed, kicking Danny's legs.

"Okay, this is nice and all," Sam said, breaking the mood. "But what do we do now?"

"...Put him back?" Box Ghost suggested. And then Danny fell out of the locker.

"Hey Poindexter-" Someone started.

"Shut the heck up, nobody likes you." Danny jumped back to his feet just as something crashed through the mirror past him. He recognized the hair and the jumpsuit within a couple seconds and had to take a moment. He'd never seen the form he and Prince took when they were together like this.

It had Prince's puffy hair, and his eyes. The jaw and the nose seemed to be Danny's, as well as the eyebrows, while the arms had muscles so they most definitely weren't. The skin tone matched Prince's more than it did Danny's, and Danny had to pull his attention back to the task at hand. As weird as this was, he had to focus.

"You've had your fun," He said, "Now I want my body and my life back!"

Poindexter seemed to have taken complete control. "Forget it! You're not going anywhere!" He floated up, sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, and attempted to punch Danny. Somehow he ended up getting turned around, smashed into Danny with his butt, and knocked him into the opposing wall.

"Prince," Danny said, scrambling out of the way when the Prince-Poindexter cross-thing dived at him. The ghost... thing... went through a wall, having turned intangible at the wrong time. "A little help!"

Prince gave no sign of having heard and Poindexter attempted to punch Danny. He gave a weak and kind of annoying battle cry as he did so.

Danny stepped back, leaned to the side, and watched Poindexter fall to the floor. "Wow. You may have our powers, but you really don't know how to use them. Seriously, I don't know how to use them, but at least I know how not to use them better than you do!" He ducked to avoid a punch, "And come on buddy, you wouldn't hit a guy with glasses!" He pointed to Poindexter's pair as he stepped aside to avoid another hit, "You couldn't hit a guy with glasses!" He stepped around Poindexter, crossing his arms. "In fact, you couldn't hit the broadside of a barn!"

"Hold still!" Poindexter said, and suddenly started twitching. "A-and you stop fighting me on this, Prince Phan-" There was a flash of light and Danny watched as one person split into two. Prince was flung to Danny's side while Poindexter crashed into the lockers. Both got up slowly, looked at each other, and moved forwards as if they were about to fight.

And then the bell rang.

Danny grabbed onto Prince, expecting the world to throw him somewhere again. From the horror on Poindexter's face, he thought the same would happen. But instead the hallway seemed to melt and twist into little bits around them, and person after person appeared. They surrounded them, chanting "Fight, fight, fight!"

"I really don't like imprints," Prince whispered, phasing his arm out of Danny's grip.

Poindexter tried to punch Danny several more times, which Danny easily ducked to avoid. Prince was not remotely helpful, mostly just trying to avoid touching anyone or anything and occasionally making squeaky noises.

"Hey, get a load of Poindexter!" Someone called, and Prince moved a little closer to Danny. "He's fighting a human!" Danny caught sight of his grandpa pushing past part of the crowd to see them. Poindexter, taking advantage of Danny's distraction, knocked him back into the locker. The door slammed closed on his left ankle as he hit his head on the edge of the mirror.

"Now, if you don't mind," Poindexter said, "I'm going to live it up some more in your body!"

Danny kicked the door open with his right leg and grabbed the mirror as he slid out. "One false move and I smash your door back to my world!"

"You wouldn't! You'd strand us both here!"

"Danny," Prince whispered, "Don't."

Danny ignored him, holding the mirror just out of Poindexter's reach. "Just try me."

Poindexter reached for it again, and Danny stomped on his foot. It occurred to Danny that he was hurting himself by doing so as Poindexter stumbled back. He fixed Danny with a glare, and very maturely, Danny replied by sticking out his tongue.

"I have a better idea," Poindexter said, "I can make you. I've still got these powers, and I can make you do whatever I want with them." He turned intangible and dove back into his body.

Danny grinned, "That's what I was hoping you'd do."

Danny wasn't sure what happened to the mirror in the resulting struggle, though to be honest he didn't quite care. He didn't fight this time, let Poindexter take his body back, and moved for his. But something distracted him along the way.

It started off with music, and then a drink being splashed in his face. "Why would I ever want to dance with _you?_" The blonde girl stormed off, and Danny found himself surrounded by laughing teenagers. The world shifted- he was in a corner now- when someone else approached.

James Fenton held out a glass of punch and a damp cloth, "Alice is a bitch."

Another shift. They walked side by side. They talked and for once everything was okay.

"Why are you still here with me?" He was confused. Poindexter couldn't grasp anyone being nice to him; every time they were nice to him it hurt more in the end.

"Because you deserve so much better," James said, "I'm sick of how everyone treats you. You could reach the stars but they cut you down before you've even tried. The teachers are useless and so is everyone else. I've spent years wanting to do something and this is the first time I-" He stopped, "I should've sooner."

They were close already, but they moved closer. Danny tried to pull himself out of this as the world shifted again.

Scene after scene filtered in front of Danny's eyes. How Poindexter was terrorized and hung from a fan, and how James got him down. How he stopped when people knocked Poindexter's books down, fetched him a bag of ice when someone gave him a black eye, told him about all the spooky ghost stories his family passed down-

Danny tried to pull back when James showed up with a split lip and broken nose and said they couldn't hang out anymore. It was better- _safer_ for them both- that way.

There was another dance. James' date slapped him and left- it was Alice again. Poindexter brought him a drink and smiled.

They kissed that night, and the next day James pretended he didn't exist.

Danny fell back into his own body, landing on the floor. Prince was by his side within seconds, helping him up. It hurt to hear Poindexter's anguished scream.

"I'd say this was fun," Prince said, "But lying like that is rude."

Danny was feeling incredibly lightheaded and was certain that if Prince let go of him he would fall over. He didn't want to leave yet. There was still so much he didn't know. It was his grandpa's fault this kid was dead, he couldn't just leave like this, he needed to do something to help him-

But Prince forced them together and flew them through the mirror.

Danny fell on top of Lancer and hit his chin on the ground. The teacher ran off, but Danny couldn't hear what was said over the ringing in his ears.

Sam helped him to his feet, while Tucker stood off to the side with his metal gloves. She seemed to say his name, but Danny was too out of it to fully understand.

"Box Ghost," To Danny, it felt as if he was hearing someone else speak with his voice. "What's an imprint?"

"Ghosts who are forced forever to relive the incidents that killed them," The ghost said. He sounded as if he was yelling from far away. "They aren't real ghosts, and only learn about the world through the twisting of our realm. This one is powerful, and should be feared!"

"Danny," Tucker said, "Let's sit down right here, okay?" He helped him do so. Sam sat down on Danny's other side, placing a hand on top of his. Prince and the Box Ghost had apparently turned invisible at some point, since Danny could just barely see their outlines now.

"My grandpa killed Poindexter," He said. "He kissed him then he killed him. And I'm... no better."

"Danny, no," Sam squeezed his hand, "We're sorry we didn't believe you. We did notice something was wrong and ignored it. We'll be better in the future, okay?"

"You shouldn't have to," Danny said, "I almost became the type of person I hate because I- I didn't think- and now that dead guy is back in his horrible life that he can't get out of- oh god I feel like I'm going to throw up this is wrong I should have done something instead of just running _oh god-_"

Danny bent forward, hands on the side of his head, and heard someone screaming from far away. Once again scenes and waves flashed before his mind. The world faded to black and white, and as Danny looked around he could see series after series of events. If Poindexter went through his day like normal and didn't try to change anything, he had longer outside of the locker. If he tried to leave, or to get James to confront him somewhere else, then he spent less time free. And every time he tried to change something some person disappeared. A face got deleted from the crowds. Poindexter convinced himself that if he resisted people died. Everything was safer, everything was _better_, if he suffered alone. James would never be a missing face if he didn't resist. But that wasn't true; the world imprints created was only real to them. Nobody else was affected by it, nobody else could even see it he wasn't protecting anyone by trying to stay there-

And then Danny saw that guy, Steve, stab the younger version of his grandpa and once again he heard the _scream._

Danny was vaguely aware of someone shaking him. He'd slumped against Sam at some point. Prince was right in front of him, visible, with his hands on Danny's shoulders and his eyes wide; obviously terrified. "Oh thank god," He whispered and pulled Danny into a tight hug.

_What?_

"Beware that imprint," Box Ghost said, "His powers are even more fearsome than mine!"

Danny's throat felt as if it was made of sandpaper and he found that he couldn't speak. Prince pulled back and turned to face the Box Ghost, "You can leave now."

"He owes me five hours of-"

"You'll get it later." Prince stood up, "Don't make me hurt you. You know I will."

The Box Ghost held up his hands in a spooky motion, shouted "Beware!" and flew off.

Danny coughed and Sam handed him a water bottle. He drank at least half of it in a single gulp, but it did little to sooth his aching throat. "Wha... what happened...?"

"You shouted something like 'he's takes their pain to keep them going' and just started screaming," Tucker said, "The lights started to _flicker,_ dude. It was terrifying."

Danny shook his head, drinking the rest of the water. "I saw things." He handed the water bottle back to Sam, and she got up to refill it. "Poindexter, he-"

"I'm going to find your family," Prince said, cutting him off. "Stop trying to talk. You sound like death."

Danny gave him a thumbs up, "I feel like death." Prince disappeared as Sam handed him the water bottle again, "He hugged me."

"That was weird," Tucker said, "So what, do you two like each other now?"

Danny shrugged and took another long drink of water, running over what he had just seen in his mind. None of it made any sense. What had even just happened? Was that a new power he'd stolen from the ghost? If Prince could do it, what had he seen? And why hadn't Danny ever heard him scream?

He looked up at his open locker and took a deep breath in. He couldn't leave it like this. He was terrified of Poindexter and what he could do... but he spent every day suffering because he thought that was the only thing keeping everyone else alive.

Danny ignored the confusion from his friends as he stood up to reach the locker. "Poindexter," He said, placing his fingertips on the mirror.

Somebody had to tell him it was safe to let go.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny still felt like death when he unlocked his front door nearly six hours later. They hadn't found the Box Ghost's 'special box,' which had resulted in a lot of angry screaming until Sam had the sense to suck him into a thermos. More than anything, he was thankful for his friends' reluctance to leave him alone with ghosts. They hadn't even been hunting them for two weeks and Danny was already perfectly ready to throw in the towel and pass all this over to his parents. He didn't want to do this anymore.

"A couple kids thought there was a party here earlier. Dad coated them with ectoplasm. What else... oh, someone screamed bloody murder today in the halls today. The teachers didn't think it was important so they ignored it and that was fun," Jazz was talking to someone on the phone. "Honestly, this school is so disappointing some days."

"Preach," Danny said, coming into the kitchen and pouring himself a glass of milk.

"Oh, hi Danny!" She hesitated before turning back to him, lowering the phone. "Grandma wants to talk to you."

Shrugging, Danny held out his hand and took the phone. "Hi, Grandma, what's up?"

Grandma Charlotte Fenton laughed, "Not much, Honey. What's up with you?"

"Not much," Danny said, taking a drink of milk. "I was the one screaming bloody murder in the hallway today." He ignored Jazz's confused look, "That was fun."

"Why would you do that?"

"You know, you'd really think I would know that." Danny said, "And I apparently accidentally released a bunch of frogs that were supposed to be dissected at some point in time, but the teacher was okay with it because the football team wanted to save the frogs. Oh, and two kids died thanks to my locker apparently."

"It sounds like you had an adventurous day," _Cool, she doesn't believe a word I just said._ "Anything else wild and woolly happen?"

"Not really," Danny lied, finishing off his drink. "I have to go now; shower and all that. I'll pass you back to Jazz but um, could you tell Grandpa something for me?"

"Of course, Honey!"

"I have locker 724 now. Sidney Poindexter forgives him for what happened." He handed the phone back to his sister and moved up the stairs, ignoring her call after him.

He took longer in the shower than normal, running over the day's events in his mind. It all seemed so much; had it really all happened in one day? He could control people with overshadowing, ghosts- imprints, whatever- could do it to him. And Prince had hugged him.

That part was definitely the weirdest.

He dried himself off and moved to his room. Prince wasn't there, but there was a weirdly bright glow by his window. _Darn it Dad, don't leave lights on. _Danny kicked his beanbag chair aside, dropped his whistle on his nightstand, and stepped to where is beanbag chair had been. "One to the Ops Center."

Danny hopped the fence on the edge of the Ops Center, climbing down until he was actually on the roof. Apparently it wasn't a light; it was Prince, sitting on the edge of the roof, and glowing brighter than that stupid FentonWorks sign.

Prince was holding his knees close to his chest and resting his chin on them, while cuddling with that creepy doll. He didn't seem to be moving, and didn't react when Danny sat down beside him. "So... why are you on the roof?"

Prince didn't reply. A breeze ruffled his hair and Danny shivered.

"Prince? Hello? Earth to Prince!" He poked him. "I'm just going to keep talking until you-" A hand grabbed onto the front of Danny's shirt, pulled him, and he fell.

It occurred to Danny that Prince had just thrown him off the roof.

A moment later, he realized he was _falling off the roof._

Danny screamed and flailed his arms, as if that would somehow stop him from falling to his death. He squeezed his eyes shut about halfway down, waiting for what was sure to come. Thankfully, it never did.

"I've got you!" Prince said, and Danny opened his eyes to see that Prince had grabbed him around his ankles. "I'm so sorry I've got you it's okay!"

Danny nodded, squeezing his eyes shut again. _I'm alive. I'm alive. _He let his hands fall back, hissing in pain as his left hand hit the railing. "Oh god," Danny tilted his head, realizing how close he was to the ground. "Oh my god I could have died."

"I'm sorry," Prince repeated, flying them back up. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry you can't believe how sorry I am I didn't mean to do that I- I didn't think oh my god I am so sorry-"

"I almost died," Danny whispered as Prince set him down on the roof. "Oh dear god..." He tripped, falling back on the roof and scrambling away from the edge, "Ohhhhhh dear god."

Prince knelt down, licking his lips. "I'm so sorry."

"You nearly fricking killed me and you think _sorry_ is going to make everything okay?!" Danny bumped into the edge of the Ops Center, sucking in a breath and trying not to start screaming again. He was alive. He was _alive_, so he was okay. He was okay as long as he was alive.

"No," Prince pulled back, looking away. "S-sorry." He shivered, looking down.

Danny slapped himself in the face and shook his head. _Calm down, Fenton! You're fine, you're alive, calm down!_ He raised his left hand to slap himself again, only for Prince to catch his wrist.

"Um," Danny said, glancing at Prince's hand, "Okay?"

Prince let go, looking away. "I'm sorry."

"Uh, it's fine." Danny took a deep breath, heart still pounding in his chest. "I, um, I'm sorry I snapped at you. Are you okay?"

"Are you?" Prince said, "I'm sorry I pushed you. I- I thought..."

"Yeah?" Danny shifted so that he was in a similar position, "Hey, it's okay. Prince, you don't have to tell me." _I can guess, anyway. _"What were you doing on the roof?"

Prince shrugged, "Doesn't matter."

"It matters to me."

Prince's head snapped back to Danny, and he stared at the human. "W-what?"

"It matters to me what happens to you and what you do." Danny took a deep breath in, looking into the ghost's eyes. He had a chance to try and fix everything between them. "Look, Prince, I know things are weird between us. I didn't even think you were real for the first week and a half I knew you. And this... _thing_ we have going on between us? It's scary, yeah, and we don't know anything about it. We could be separated by tomorrow, or stuck like this for the next hundred years. I don't know." Prince had raised an eyebrow and was staring at Danny now, "But I do know it's going to be a heck of a lot longer if we keep acting like jerks to each other all the time. I don't want to spend the rest of the life with someone who hates me. It matters to me what happens to you because right now, your life is happening to me too." He moved a hand towards Prince's shoulder, pulling it back when the ghost flinched. "Sorry."

"Why are you being nice?" Prince asked, "Poindexter attacked you because of me. You got hurt because of me. I just pushed you off the roof." He frowned, "You should be mad at me."

_Don't worry, I am. _"Did you mean for any of this to happen?"

"No..."

"Then I don't blame you." Danny forced a smile, "I'm not innocent either; I know that. I- I understand perfectly if you don't like me. It's fine if you don't, okay? You've been through some stuff and all that. But if there's anything I can do to make this easier..." He trailed off. Prince was looking away from him again. "Well, let me know if you think of something." He grabbed onto the railing for the Ops Center and started to help himself up.

"We..." Danny turned back to Prince, who seemed to be struggling to get his words out. Danny turned back to the ghost, tipping his head to the side. "We could... start over. Try again, I mean." He held out his right hand, trying to stop it from shaking. "Hi. I'm Prince."

Danny grabbed his hand and shook it once. "Hi Prince, I'm Danny."

"Hi Danny, I'm Prince."

"So I've heard," The two pulled their hands back, "So, is Prince like a nickname or is that your actual name?"

"Um, my dad called me Princey," Prince said, "So... yes? My turn; does your sister ever eat?"

"Never where people can see, I think," Danny said, "But she's almost always eating celery or drinking water, and she probably has a bag of snacks or something in her room."

"Okay," Prince frowned, playing with his sleeves.

Danny raised his eyebrows and leaned forwards, catching sight of something on the underside of Prince's right wrist. "What is that?"

Prince pulled his wrist close before saying softly, "Promise not to laugh?"

"Scout's honour."

"What's a scout?"

"You know, I don't actually know. I think it might be a bird or a weasel or something. So, wrist?"

Prince rolled up his sleeve and held out his wrist. A little underneath his palm there was what seemed to be a large misshapen freckle. It was almost a circle with little triangles pointing towards Prince's fingertips. It looked almost like a cartoonish drawing of a cat's head.

"Oh my god," Danny laughed, looking up at the ghost, "Oh my god; you have a kitty on your wrist. That's adorable!" He grabbed Prince's hand, trying to get a closer look, when something else on the ghost's arm caught his eye. For a brief second the pattern on it reminded Danny of how lightning did when it flashed across the sky, and he shivered.

"Danny," He barely heard Prince say his name, too caught up in rolling back the sleeve. "Just- just stop that-"

There were other scars that twisted around Prince's body, but none stood out with the same sickly dark green colour that the branching one did. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Prince said, "It was just kind of there after the portal thing," He pulled his arm back and rolled up his sleeve, "Stop touching it now."

Danny pulled his hands back, making a motion of surrender. "Sorry. Uh, what about the others? Did... _they_ give it to you?"

Prince flinched before nodding slowly. "Some of them."

"Some?"

Prince pulled down the front of his shirt, pointing to an ugly black mark by his collarbone. "Them," He let it go and pulled up his pant leg, revealing a green mark that went up his shin, "Dragon." He took off his shoe, pointing to a toe which was missing the nail, "Them."

"They ripped off your toenail?" Danny leaned back, "Okay, I don't know who these guys are but that's not okay."

"I can't say their name," Prince said, his voice shaking. "I- I don't know how it works but- but if you say their name they can find you and-"

"Whoa, hey," Danny held out his hands, "It's okay!"

"No it's not!" Prince shrunk back onto himself, pulling at his hair again, "Poindexter almost said their name and if he said that they would've been able to see us and they would've found me and-" Danny reached forward, trying to stop Prince from pulling out his hair as the ghost started shivering. "I can't go back there."

"You won't have to," Danny said, guiding Prince's hands away. "Prince Phantom, I give you my word that if those guys come for you I will stop them."

"How?" Prince sniffed, "You can't fight them. You can't. You _can't._"

"Maybe not," Danny put on fake smile, deciding it would be best not to mention that Poindexter actually had said the Observants' name after Prince had left. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try." He stood up, helping Prince to his feet. "Come on. I don't want you sleeping on the roof anymore. I'll grab you a sleeping bag and you can hang out in my room until we think of something better."

Prince wiped his eyes with his sleeve the second Danny turned away to climb back onto the Ops Center. "Thank you."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Question."

"Answer."

"Hilarious. Why haven't we done anything to change the past yet?"

"If I intervened before this I could have prevented their partnership. If they couldn't get along, then- well, you know what I mean."

"Uh, no? I'm dumb. Spell it out for me."

"Fine. Then they won't die for each other."

"I just like to imagine people hearing this conversation and having a moment of confused fear when they hear that."

"And I like to imagine you shutting up. You never do, have you noticed that?"

"For eight thousand dollars a month I will stop."

"What about a punch in the gut?"

"Stopping now."

* * *

**ATTENTION EVERYONE WE HAVE SURPASSED 100K WORDS I HAVE REACHED SUPREME LEVELS OF TRASH**

*Ahem* So… I have been looking forward to this chapter for a long time. As you can see, it's the start of the wonderful little nerds attempting to friendship with each other. We've also gotten a bit more of a look at who Prince is, and we'll continue to do so in the next couple chapters~!

Next full chapter will be Bitter Reunions. However, I can confirm there will be a bridge chapter before it. So, be on the look out for those sometime in the near future! ^^

Any sort of love for this story is amazing! Any flames, however, will, be thrown off the roof.


	8. Bridge: How To Befriend a Ghost

Today has been dubbed my Christmas Extravaganza Update Bonanza, which means all of my fics get an update. This is the first of many! ^^ It's totally not the first because I've had it done since November. No, no. What would ever… give you that impression…

Anyway, onwards!

**Chapter Warnings; **Just the usual.

* * *

**Bridge 2;**

The first thing Danny learned the next morning was that Prince snored.

It wasn't like his dad's snores, which shook the whole house, and it was honestly kind of cute. It reminded Danny of the dog he'd babysat for their old neighbors when he was younger. And then he smacked himself for making the comparison, because Prince was not a dog.

His mom forced him to take his meds, much to Danny's annoyance. He didn't have epilepsy; he had a ghost who'd hated him. And now that Prince was going to be his friend there was no reason for him to take the stupid pills.

He caught the bus to school, met his friends by Tucker's locker- Danny had made the executive decision to never touch his again- and went to class. None of them commented on the events of the day before, or Prince's mysterious absence. They bounced from other topics, to the new video games coming out, shows they had watched, and interesting movies. As it was Friday, and the last day of school before Spring Break, they made the decision to go to Tucker's house that night and watch horror movies in his attic.

It was raining and freezing cold by the time they reached Tucker's house. Danny led Sam upstairs as Tucker ran off to get them some blankets. After the ghost's mysterious absence throughout the day, Danny was honestly surprised to see Prince sitting there, completely soaked and with a towel underneath him. He had something crawling on palm, but cupped his hands to block it from view as soon as Danny and Sam noticed them.

"Hi Prince," Danny said, "What's up?"

"Um," Prince looked uneasily at Sam, "The roof?"

"Fair enough," Danny said, crossing the room with Sam a few steps behind him. He missed the Prince pulled back when they got closer. "What do you have in your hands?"

"It was raining," Prince said quickly, "I couldn't just leave him out there; it was wet and he would've been really uncomfortable. Also the drops are as big as he is! He could've drowned! He could've died!"

"Who?" Danny knelt down, "Come on Prince, it's okay. We're friends now, right?"

"You are?" Sam asked, "When did this happen?"

"Last night," Danny said, looking over at Sam for a moment, "Right after he pushed me off the roof. Long story." Prince had pulled away some more when Danny turned back to him. "Come on. What do you have in your hands?"

"His name is George," Prince separated his hands to reveal a fuzzy black and yellow bumblebee. "He's my bee friend!"

"_Holy-" _Danny threw himself back, scrambling away from the bug. "Kill it!"

Prince covered the bug back up and gasped, flattening himself against the wall. Sam looked down at the both of them, one eyebrow raised. "Do I want to know?"

"I'm _really_ allergic," Danny said, standing up and taking several steps away from Prince. "Get rid of that thing!"

Prince frowned, "But he's my bee friend!"

"So you want me to die, then?" Danny had reached to opposite wall, mentally smacking himself for not taking his epipen everywhere with him like he was supposed to. "You want it to sting me and you want me to die?!"

"No-"

"Then get rid of it!"

"If I put him outside he'll die!"

"Do I look like I care?! It's a _bee!_"

Sam rolled her eyes, "Do it or I'm going to order you."

Prince held the bee closer to himself, narrowed his eyes, and turned mostly invisible. Danny could still see a shimmering outline where Prince should be.

Tucker came up the stairs, throwing the blankets onto a chair. "What did I miss?"

"Apparently Prince found a bee and decided to cuddle with it," Sam made her way over to them, "He ran off when I threatened to order him around."

"He's still right there," Danny whispered, "He's just invisible."

Tucker grabbed a book from a side table. "Don't worry buddy, I've got this." He pulled his arm back and whipped it in Prince's general direction. The ghost yelped and returned to visibility, the book smashing into his hands and knocking the bee out of them.

"And that's why we're friends," Danny said, taking a few deep breaths in. "Thanks."

"Bee friend!" Prince scooped the bug back up, cradling it close to his chest. He floated up, looking over the trio of humans. "Why would you hurt him? I'm the one you don't like!"

"Prince," Danny said as calmly as he could manage, "You really don't understand. If that thing had stung me-"

"But he didn't. He wasn't going to." Danny couldn't feel anything from the ghost, but he sounded hurt. "Bee friend did nothing wrong." He actually disappeared this time, leaving the trio in a somewhat uncomfortable silence.

"So…" Sam said, looking over the two of them. "Any suggestions for what movie we'll watch?"

"I vote one of the ones that try so hard to be scary they're funny," Tucker said, grabbing a blanket and moving towards the couch. "What's your opinion on jump scares?"

"Considering that they're just used as a cheap way to make a bad movie scarier, I find them hilarious."

"Sweet," Tucker grinned, and turned to his other friend. "Danny, you okay?"

"You guys start without me," Danny sighed, heading downstairs. "I need to go make sure he's okay."

"Danny, wait-" Sam started, and Danny walked quicker down the stairs.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch had made the official decision that he truly hated Fridays.

He'd have to leave early if he wanted any chance of finding them on time. But his arm still hurt, and his face had decided that today would be a good day to start aching. Everything was awful. On the bright side, they normally taught him something really cool if his injuries from the last week had been pretty bad. But after everything with Infinite last weekend, would they still do that?

Either way, he needed to leave soon if he wanted to find wherever they had moved their lair to. He'd be able to sense its location, somewhat, but he'd never liked doing that. He was only supposed to be able to sense his home, and what happened with them was most certainly not home-worthy.

Shaking his head, Stopwatch removed the padding from overtop of his death wound, shoved it under his bed, and opened up the door. Something stopped it from opening all the way. Frowning now, Stopwatch stuck his head out and saw Infinite, spread across the hallway, with bread and a cutting board in front of him.

"…What are you _doing?_"

"Hey Stopwatch," Infinite said, "What's up?"

"That doesn't answer my question."

"And that doesn't answer mine." Infinite grabbed a couple slices of bread, "What do you want on your sandwich?"

"Why?"

"Oh, cool, we're playing circle games." Infinite sat up, "Time Turner was hanging out with his friend yesterday and they heard of a ghost whose obsession is to play one million games of laser tag. So we're going to play a few rounds with him tomorrow. I'm making lunches. But Time Turner told me to hurry up and finish this so I decided to _floor it!"_ He pointed a pair of finger guns at Stopwatch. "…Get it? Floor it? I'm on the floor?"

Stopwatch closed his door and stepped back, sitting down on his bed. _That was weird. Why does he want to keep ruining everything? What did I do to deserve this?_

There was a knock on the door, and Infinite opened it back up. "You're playing laser tag with us, for the record."

"Why?" _What even is laser tag? That doesn't sound fun._

"Because he has one of his buddies on his side who scares me and you are somewhat of a badass." The damn finger guns were back, "So," He held up a slice of bread, "Sandwich?"

"No."

"No sandwich? Alright, fair enough. Do you want me to bring you something else?"

Stopwatch crossed his arms, "I want you to go away."

Infinite held up his hands, "I'll ask Hourglass, then. I'll be out here for a little while longer if you change your mind." He closed the door behind him.

Stopwatch slouched on his bed, glaring at the door. _What the hell am I supposed to do now?_

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny pulled up the hood of his coat, trying to use the buildings as cover from the storm. He was tempted to just use the whistle and be done with it, but if Prince was mad enough he might just ignore it like he had during the bet. Besides, Prince hated that thing. If Danny wanted to fix everything he'd ruined by getting that stupid bee killed the whistle couldn't be used. But there was also the fact he was trying to keep the ghost a secret…

_Screw it. _"Prince!" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth and making a face as the rain ran down to his wrists. "Prince, I'm sorry! Can we talk about this?" There was apparently a hole in his shoe that Danny didn't know about, since he could feel his socks getting uncomfortably cold and wet. "Ugh, it feels like I'm stepping in pancake batter. Prince!"

Danny stopped as he felt his ghost sense curl up his throat. He ducked under a tree and turned slowly to see that the side of a house had been covered in some sort of twitching green thing. Danny squinted and after staring at it for a few moments realized that the building was covered in hundreds of ghost wasps the size of his palm.

"Noooo," He whispered, grabbing the whistle. "Nope nope nope nope-"

"Danny!" Sam's call distracted him, and Danny looked over his shoulder to see his friends rushing to join him. When Danny looked back at the building the wasps were moving.

Tucker reached his side first, "Danny, are you- holy shit what is _that?_"

"I think I preferred bee friend," Danny whispered.

The ghost wasps took to the sky and the trio ran. Danny found himself in the lead, directing his friends into an alleyway that had he been thinking logically he would have ran past. Instead the trio stumbled and fell together, knocking over three garbage cans. The ghost wasps seemed confused for a moment before diving towards them.

"Get behind me!" Danny shouted, grabbing the lid of one and using it as a shield.

"Danny, no!" Tucker replied, "You're not Captain America!"

"Shut up!" Danny threw out an arm to hold them back and hid as much of his body as possible behind the lid. He flinched and braced himself, eyes squeezed shut.

Instead there was a large _splat_ sound and Danny looked up to see a huge wall of ice coated in ectoplasm. The wasps had apparently splattered all over it. Prince floated down slowly, one hand smoking blue. He looked at his hand and made an annoyed noise, "That was wrong."

Danny dropped the shield and Prince turned back, "Hey."

"Hi," Prince said, taking a step back as the trio stood. "I, um, figured out what an allergy is."

"You did?"

"Uh-huh. I have one of those."

"You're already dead," Tucker said, "What could you be allergic to?"

Green energy coated Prince's hands now and his eyes blazed. "I'm not telling _you_ that. You killed Bee Friend."

"He was trying to help Danny," Sam said as she stepped forwards, "Unlike you."

"Guys, no," Danny said, grabbing onto Sam and Tucker's sleeves. "Don't do this."

Prince looked over them for a moment before he calmed down, the wall of ice falling apart. "I'm going to listen to Danny," He said, sounding a bit smug. "Are you?"

Danny held his friends tighter as Sam strained against him. "All of you need to stop!"

"What did I do wrong?" Tucker asked as Sam pulled her arm free, "I was helping you!"

"So was I!" Sam protested.

"I beat the bugs," Prince crossed his arms, "What did you do?"

"Oh for the love of-" Danny stepped between the three, _"None_ of you are helping me by fighting each other!" He turned to Prince, "I'm allergic to bees and wasps. If one stings me I can go into this thing called anaphylaxis shock where my throat closes up and if I don't get to the hospital I die. So yeah, I'm going to freak out if I see one. That said," He addressed Sam and Tucker now. "Maybe we could have done something besides murdering his bee friend or whatever. We all screwed up, okay? Can we just agree on that and move on?"

Nobody said anything for a few minutes, though Sam and Tucker exchanged a look Danny couldn't decipher. Eventually it was Prince who spoke, "You should go watch your scary things or whatever," He said, "I'll clean this up."

They didn't see him for the rest of the night.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch pulled a fist back and punched the ghost in front of him in his nose. He disappeared, and Stopwatch groaned. Another duplicate.

What had to be the seventh Infinite duplicate he'd encountered in the last five minutes poked his head out from around the corner. Stopwatch shot a violet blast at him and didn't bother checking to see if it would hit. At this point, Stopwatch was _really_ starting to regret saving him.

He moved quickly back the way he'd come, hoping to find some place that Infinite hadn't covered. Every hallway had at least one floating there, watching him move. It was _weird._

Stopwatch floated in place, looking down the hallway he technically wasn't supposed to enter. He turned slowly, looking at the area beside him. There was a large window with the glass shattered, and part of what had once been a table was stabbed into a chair. _An escape route? Perfect._

He floated over and rested his feet on the edge. If he just stepped off and didn't bother to fly, he'd get away a lot quicker. But doing anything like that was strictly forbidden.

Though, then again, so was his training.

Stopwatch stepped out of the building and let himself fall perhaps a foot before something wrapped around his arm and he was pulled back inside. He tried to pull himself free and found the grip was much too strong to break out of.

"Would you mind explaining to me exactly _what_ you were doing?"

_Clockwork. _Stopwatch froze, craned his neck, and looked up at the Master of Time. He felt Clockwork tighten his grip as he did so. _Shit._

.-.-.-.-.-.

The door of the kitchen squeaked open and Infinite let out a frustrated shout. He grabbed it and pulled, eyes quickly going wide as it came off the hinges. "Oh shit."

"What did you do?" Tardis asked, not turning away from whatever she was making.

"Um… nothing," Infinite threw the broken door into the hall, "Absolutely nothing."

Tardis turned, raising an eyebrow as she watched Infinite stand 'unassumingly' in front of the now empty doorframe. "What the fuck did you do to the door?"

"What door?" Infinite said, kicking it out of her view, "We don't have a door. They're horrible. Some might even call them door-ible."

Tardis reached back, grabbed a knife, and threw it in his direction hard as she could. Infinite ducked out of the way, laughing as it harmlessly bounced off the wall.

"That wasn't very _knife_ of you!"

"It was very knife, you shit, that's why I threw the knife." She replied, turning back to her project and grabbing a new knife. "If you don't fix that I will personally kick your ass."

"Good luck," Infinite said, "I'm approximately eighty-four percent ass and you have tiny feet."

Tardis didn't look back. "And, when was the last time you slept?"

"The year was 1969-"

"Be serious."

"Nah, I'm going to be Infinite." He grabbed the medallion hanging around his neck, "And now I'm going to be-"

Tardis whipped another utensil at him; a wooden spoon. "Don't be a shit."

"I can't; I'm also ninety percent shit." He frowned, "And one hundred percent bad at math. Do we have coffee?"

Rolling her eyes, Tardis pointed towards a small appliance a little ways away from her. "Wash it after you're done."

There was a moment of silence. Infinite contemplated the best way to bring up what he was currently doing. "So apparently I can make thirteen duplicates at once now."

"Oh god, what did you do?"

"Several assorted things of varying legality," He said.

Tardis turned towards him, raising one of her eyebrows. Infinite pretended not to see as he stared intently at the coffee machine. "Did you kill someone?"

"Nah," He waved a hand, "Why is that always the first thing people assume? I did jaywalk, though, and used a bathroom at a gas station without making a purchase. I'm really living on the edge." He shook his head, "I actually just have like five duplicates running around right now." He could feel Tardis staring at him. "Yes, you did hear that right. There used to be more, but they got exploded."

"Got exploded. Is that why you ripped off my door?"

"If your door squeaks that much it was already a rip off," Infinite poked the coffee pot. "Also, I don't know how well this'll work, but I'm getting Time Turner to help me set a huge thing of laser tag for tomorrow. You in?"

"Why the fuck would I want to be part of something like that?" She made a face, "And why aren't you out organizing it yourself? Do you have a piano tied to your ass?"

"First of all, why would you say that? That doesn't even make any sense. I don't even know anyone who owns a piano."

"You know me, you bitch."

Infinite straightened up, raising an eyebrow. "Uh, okay? I've never seen it in my wanderings but okay." He shrugged, "He's getting Ghostwriter's help to set this up since, well, he's the only one who's actually met the guy we're looking for."

Tardis raised her eyebrows, "And you aren't doing this yourself… why?"

"There's a very simple reason for that," Infinite pressed his hands together before pointing them at Tardis, "He scares me."

"He scares you?"

"He scares me."

"Of course he does. I don't know why I'm surprised anymore." Tardis rolled her eyes and pointed to the fridge. "Get me a juice box, would you?"

Infinite shrugged, reached over, and opened it up. "What flavour do you want?"

"It doesn't matter; they're all filled with wine."

"Wait," Infinite stood, looking over at her, "Are you serious?"

"No, I'm Tardis," She crossed to his side and reached under his arm, grabbing one. "I get empty ones and fill them with wine. Clockwork doesn't like it when I drink in front of him."

"Uh, okay, I guess that makes sense," Infinite frowned, "You damn alcoholic. But Clockwork's not here."

Tardis pushed the straw into the top, "Five, four, three, two, one-"

Clockwork appeared in the doorway, "Why, exactly, is that door on the ground?"

"Holy-" Infinite stepped back, slipped, and fell against the cupboard.

Tardis and Clockwork looked over at each other for a second before Clockwork moved forwards. "I'm not going to bother asking why there's a knife on the ground."

"The carrots are like wild animals," Tardis said, and grabbed a new knife from the drawer. She set it gently on the counter and watched the exchange in front of her.

Clockwork appeared to narrow his eyes for a second before he turned back to Infinite, who was awkwardly standing up. He pointed a set of finger guns at the Master of Time, laughing awkwardly. "Sup?" _Sup? Note to future self; do not say that when talking to Clockwork._

Clockwork looked back over his shoulder and motioned with a hand. Stopwatch slowly entered, trying to hide in the hood of his sweater while still glaring at Infinite. It was unnerving. "If you're going to be harassing him to the point where he considers jumping out a window a solution, then at least do it in person."

Infinite blinked twice and raised an eyebrow, "What?" _What?_

Clockwork moved a hand towards Stopwatch's back, though Stopwatch moved forward before it touched him. He stood a little ways away from Infinite, still glaring. "Don't let him out of your sight," He left without another word.

Tardis frowned, dropping the juice box in the sink. "I'll be right back. If you break anything I'll fucking stab you." She started out of the room.

"That's nasty," Infinite called after her, and turned to Stopwatch. He hadn't stopped glaring yet. "How does that not hurt your eyes?"

"Let me make myself clear," Stopwatch stepped forward, "Leave me alone."

Infinite frowned, "We both know that's not going to happen."

Stopwatch seemed to realize there was no way he'd win this argument of theirs. For a second, Infinite was hopeful that he'd stay. But then the hood fell back and Stopwatch snatched the knife Tardis had grabbed from the counter. Hand shaking, he held it up close to his own throat.

"If you _care_ about me," His upper lip curled, "Then let me go."

Oh, this was probably really, really bad. Infinite coated a hand in green energy and picked up the broken door, holding it in place. "You're not going to hurt yourself," Infinite said as calmly as he could, _I won't let you._

"And you're sure of that?"

_Nope._ "Of course I am," His voice didn't shake, surprisingly. "I know things, Stopwatch; things you can't even begin to understand. You're not going to hurt yourself." _I hope._

Stopwatch shifted, glancing down at the knife in his hand before he looked back at Infinite. "You're right," He twirled the knife around in his hand and lunged forwards, driving it into Infinite's arm. The energy holding the door up fell away and Stopwatch was gone within seconds.

Infinite stood there, staring at the knife in his arm. "That wasn't supposed to happen," He whispered, "That's _wrong._" The thought that he should go after Stopwatch didn't even cross his mind as Infinite struggled to hold onto reality. He was fine. This was nothing. He'd had worse. Infinite reached for the knife, about to pull it out.

"Oh no," Tardis reappeared and rushed to his side, and Infinite wondered when he'd ended up sitting on the ground. "I was only gone for two minutes." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, red eyes wide. "What the hell happened?!"

_The carrots,_ he was tempted to joke, but the words didn't reach his lips. He wrapped his hand around the handle of his knife and started to pull it out.

"No," Tardis grabbed his wrist, guiding it away from his arm. "No no no don't do that. Don't- wait here. Wait here and don't do anything until I find Clockwork." She stood up and started to rush out of the room, stopping in the doorway. "Don't pull it out."

Infinite didn't listen. He threw the knife away from him, staring at the hole in his arm. "This wasn't supposed to happen," He whispered. "This is wrong."

It had to be _wrong._

.-.-.-.-.-.

The hum of a natural portal caused him to stand up straighter, and he met the eye of the Observant who came through. "Kulo," He said pleasantly.

"Hm, not quite." That was most certainly _not_ the voice of the Observant he was used to dealing with. "Try again, Positgen. I find it difficult to believe that he's never mentioned me before."

Positgen did not move, trying his best not to let any fear show. Kulo had made it rather clear that the majority of the Observants wouldn't approve of their agreement, and he had no desire to incriminate the few others who appreciated his involvement. "Are you, by chance, the Head Observant?"

"Flattering, but no." She placed a hand over her core, "My name is Volana. I am in charge of, shall we say, training those who will be beneficial to our cause." She moved towards him, "Kulo, a dear friend of mine, asked me to come in his place to receive your information. He'll be unavailable to meet you for quite some time, you see. There was an incident a few months ago and his punishment is still being carried out."

Positgen accepted the explanation, though he was still wary. "Very well. I suppose I should just tell you what I've learned, then?"

"That would be why I'm here." She waved a hand, and the portal she used disappeared. "Though I would greatly appreciate it if we could keep this short. You see, I have much more rewarding things I could be doing than talking to you."

Positgen tried to suppress the urge to hurt her. Kulo could sense emotions, and he wasn't entirely sure if that power applied to the others. "Alright. You see, I am a member of the Royal Sympathizers-"

"Please, spare me your story." Volana interrupted, "Kulo has already filled me in. Just tell me exactly what you found so important for my associate to know so I can leave."

Positgen allowed a small frown. He reminded himself why he was doing this before he continued, "Of course. During our last meeting, the little miss-" He paused as it occurred to him that Hourglass would be in danger if he revealed that she'd been the one to provide the information. "Er, Ember revealed that Warrior Boy, Dark, and Prince Phantom are all still in existence."

Volana seemed to be staring at him. It was hard to tell. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that last one?"

"Prince Phantom," He said. "Now, she didn't specify which one, but judging by the reactions I personally believe…" He trailed off, aware that Volana's attention had drifted. He wondered how much trouble he'd get in if he started spewing random theories.

"No, I know exactly which one he is. Any others by that name have been taken care of." She seemed to smile, "So the child survived again, did he? Fascinating."

It occurred to Positgen that he should feel bad for what he had just done. For whatever reason, he didn't. That might prove problematic in the future. "So you were already aware of him?"

"His continued existence? No; our sources pointed to him being destroyed." Volana was definitely smiling, in her strange Observant way. "Well, it seems Kulo has been unjustly punished for letting the wretched child escape. I'll be certain to right that wrong once I return. Tell me, do you know where he resides?"

"Well, in the human realm," He motioned to the forest around him, "And I believe the town he's in was called Amity Park."

Volana's 'smile' was gone. "Of course it was." She moved back slightly, "Any other information you can think of?"

"Dark is allegedly pretending to be him," Positgen though for a moment, searching for any other information that wouldn't incriminate Hourglass. "And Warrior Boy is-"

"I don't care about those two," Volana said, "They have done enough for our cause to warrant the privilege of continued survival. I care about where our Master of Time has hidden my property."

Well, that was certainly an uplifting mental image. He might have felt bad for Prince, if he knew anything about the child. Being considered the Observants' property couldn't be good. Still, nobody he cared about had any real attachment to Prince, so his continued existence didn't really concern Positgen. "Beyond being in Amity Park, I don't know."

"Well find out," She leaned forward, "Unless you know someone who could take his place?"

"Don't threaten me," He floated a little higher off the ground. "I am outside of your rules."

"That hasn't stopped me before." She moved closer, "So let me make myself clear. I will meet you here in exactly one week. If you don't show, or I find that the information you have provided is unsatisfactory, then I'll have to find a substitute." She was grinning now, somehow. "And I believe I know the perfect target.

"The others will not stand by you," Positgen said, "Your threats are nothing."

"Oh no, I don't mean you," She replied, "I'm talking of a certain young ghost, who years ago you tried to hand graciously over to us, only to go back on your word less than an hour later as our Time Master appeared." She tipped her head to the side, "Did you think I'd forgotten?"

"Leave Hourglass out of this," Positgen said. "We have a deal."

"Your deal is with Kulo. I operate by my own terms." She drew back, and Positgen felt a knot of suspicion in his gut. He was almost certain that his request for a meeting had never reached Kulo. "One week, and if your information does not meet my standards she will pay the price." The portal opened back up and she was gone within seconds.

Positgen didn't move, simply watching the portal fade away. Hourglass was far too outspoken about her hatred for the Observants; if he didn't keep this up, she'd pay with her core. They'd be more than happy to be rid of someone like her. But Positgen couldn't just abandon her to them. Not again. Never again.

In the end, his personal beliefs were irrelevant. The Observants had proved themselves the largest threat and he'd made a choice. As long as they viewed him as useful, he would survive and the three others he cared about would survive as well. If he had to go against the opinions he once held close, then so be it.

Regardless of his status in the Royals' eyes and Positgen's own theories, Prince was the Observants' property. And Positgen would return him to them.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"You're late."

"Infinite did his best to prevent me from coming here," Stopwatch quickly said, almost exactly as he had practiced on his trip over. "I had to be certain that he didn't follow me this time."

"Hm," The other being materialized in front of Stopwatch and looked down at him, "I'll allow it. You should consider yourself lucky that I'm not punishing you for the actions from last weekend." His gaze lingered on Stopwatch's scarred cheek for a moment before he turned away. "Alright. Did you learn anything from your encounter with the Royals?"

"They're assholes?" Stopwatch offered.

The other ghost raised a hand and in one swift motion slapped Stopwatch across the face. His sharp nails dug into Stopwatch's injured cheek and moments later, when Stopwatch raised a hand to touch his new injury, there were little patches of ectoplasm on his palm. He let it sting and wondered why he'd been so careless.

"Warrior Boy and Dark are in the human realm," Stopwatch quickly said, "And Dark is posing as Prince Phantom." _And I still don't know what the big deal behind that is._

"Posing?" He scoffed, "They're getting dumber, it seems. The boy we call Dark is _named_ Prince Phantom. And he hated that nickname; he tried to murder Elijah when he came up with it." For a moment he looked concerned, "Why would they choose to reappear now, unless… Infinite…"

He fell silent. Stopwatch shifted his weight from foot to foot, completely lost and unsure of how to react. "Who is Prince Phantom?" He chanced, stepping back slightly in case the question went wrong.

"Just a common name inspired by a royal figure," He waved him off, "Well Kid, you were late today, and you know what that means?"

A duplicate grabbed Stopwatch by his hood before he could reply and threw him into a wall. Stopwatch hit it awkwardly but bounced back, firing three violet blasts at the duplicate before it could attack him again. They all missed.

"Your accuracy continues to be horrendous," The other said, "Do you think you're making a point by constantly failing such a simple task? I suppose you believe that one day you'll be so bad that I'll give up on you, and you can go back to our _wonderful, amazing, _Master of Time and have a little tea party with miss Hourglass."

Stopwatch tuned him out. He did his best to focus on the fight, but wandering thoughts kept pressing their way into his mind. Warrior Boy and Dark were obviously threats, especially to the Royals which included Hourglass. But Prince, the one he'd met, couldn't have been one of those. Hourglass had been far too concerned with his safety, and Stopwatch's teacher had truly wanted him destroyed. It had to be someone else with that same name. And it was kind of dumb, so there probably weren't many who went by it. If he really wanted to figure out exactly who this guy was it wouldn't be too hard to do so.

Stopwatch narrowed his eyes and focused on the task at hand. If Prince was a threat to Hourglass, then he'd stop him. But until then Prince could do what he wanted.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny leaned back in his desk chair, looking up at where Prince sat on the roof. "Are you drawing on yourself?"

"Maybe," Prince said, rolling up his sleeve and continuing to doodle on his arm.

"You're going to get ink poisoning." Danny pointed out.

Prince looked down at him, "I'm already dead."

Danny raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and went back to his homework. "Fair enough."

Prince had been waiting for Danny when he returned home the next day. Despite Danny's efforts at starting a conversation, Prince had quickly proved that he wasn't up to holding one. Though reluctant, Danny had made the decision to let Prince do more or less whatever he wanted to do. He had homework to do, anyway.

Danny narrowed his eyes at the questions he was supposed to answer and groaned, pushing his chair away from the desk and spinning around in it. "I quit English," He said, "I don't care about any of this. Anybody who does needs a hobby."

"That's nice," Prince said.

There was a knock at the door. Danny, still spinning in his chair, called "Come in!" as Prince turned invisible. It wasn't his sister as he had suspected, but his dad instead.

Jack handed his son the phone as soon as Danny stopped spinning. "Your uh, Grandpa wants to talk to you."

"Really?" Danny took the phone, frowning. "Okay." He watched as his dad awkwardly left the room before kicking the door closed and putting the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Kiddo," Grandpa Fenton said awkwardly, "So, your Grandma told me something uh, interesting that you said to her."

"Oh, yeah, right." Prince had returned to visibility and sat cross-legged on Danny's bed, "I did." Danny heard his voice waver. "I did do that."

"Danny?" Prince said quietly.

"Now, I've been asking your dad and he says he doesn't know, so I'm going to ask you." Grandpa Fenton paused and Danny chewed on his bottom lip. "What do you know about Sidney Poindexter?"

Danny turned the chair so he was looking at Prince. He ran a hand through his hair, "You talked to my dad?"

"Yes. The first time I called you weren't here."

Danny stared at Prince, some part of him trying to convey a scream for help. Prince frowned and shifted, tipping his head to the side. "How much did you tell them?" Danny whispered.

"If you're trying to distract me, it won't work." His Grandpa sounded so disappointed. It hurt.

"Sorry," Danny muttered, and went back to spinning in the chair. "I just- it was really weird and I don't know what to say-" Prince wrapped his hand around Danny's wrist and forced the two of them together.

"Hi," He said, taking almost complete control. "My name's Prince. I'm Danny's friend. I was there for most of this, so I can tell you about it."

"I, uh, that's nice, but I'd really prefer to talk to my grandson-"

"Well, you see, that's a problem." Prince said, "Because Danny's kind of freaking out over this."

"_What are you doing?"_ Danny asked, and felt the shoulders of their body shrug.

"_Bullshitting it?"_ Prince offered, _"You seemed upset. I wanted to help."_

"_I can't tell him about ghosts,"_ Danny said, _"He'll figure out about us and we'll be in a lot of trouble."_

"_We'll be in a lot of trouble if we try to back out of this now,"_ Prince said, _"I kind of know what to say. I'll keep ghosts out as much as I can." _Prince took a breath in, "Are you still there?"

"You said your name was Prince, didn't you? Let me talk to my grandson."

"Yeah, uh, he kind of ran out of the room after I stole the phone from him. We're doing homework right now with the rest of our, uh, group. One of them got locked in the bathroom." Prince shrugged again, "So, let's see, the Poindexter thing… well, on Wednesday, we broke Danny's locker. The next day he got a new one, which was apparently cursed because, uh, that's what happens when people die in them."

"That's lovely, but-"

"So of course, when we heard about this, we decided that the curse was obviously false and went out to prove it. We like, threw Danny into the locker, waited ten minutes, and then let him out. Nothing happened so we went to the library and messed around with yearbooks. There's a really cute picture of you two in one of them," Danny heard his grandpa cough. "You must've been good friends."

"Y-yes, friends," He coughed again, "I appreciate this, but I'd much rather hear it all from my grandson. Could you put him back on?"

"Nope; I don't know where he is." Danny took control of their left hand and moved it to the back of their neck. Prince stole the control back and tried to drop it. Danny moved for it again, and the two ended up in an odd, arm flapping tug-of-war as Prince continued. "So after school one of Danny's other friends, _Sam,_" Danny didn't miss how disgusted Prince sounded as he said her name. "Grabbed this thing from her room. It was an um, uh- I've only seen it written so um, um… oi-jee board…?"

"_Ouija board?"_ Danny offered, _"And when were you ever in Sam's room?"_

"I know what you mean," Grandpa Fenton said, "And did you use this to contact him?"

"Yeah!" Prince said, "Danny set it up. He's good at stuff like that."

"I'll bet he is."

"Yeah. We had a nice chit chat with Sidney Poindexter- he doesn't like me- and he told Danny the thing he told you." Their left arm, which was still flailing, knocked over a cup of pencils. Both Danny and Prince relinquished their control and the arm fell limply against the table. "And that about covers it."

"I see," Grandpa Fenton hesitated for a moment. "Well this has certainly been an interesting and… echoing conversation. Would you mind giving the phone back to my grandson now? Or my son?"

Danny took control of their mouth. "I'm sorry, I can't, the phone's about to die." He took control of their left arm and quickly pushed the 'end' button. "Well, this is going to come back and bite me."

"Hey, I tried," Prince said, wrinkling their nose, "You were just sitting there and making noises."

"And now _we're_ sitting here and making noises," Danny said, "It's called talking." Prince snorted, and Danny grinned. "So… we're really doing this. We're really going to be friends."

"Well, I don't want to share a body with my enemy," Prince said, "So yes. Friendship. But, uh…" He paused, "I'm sorry about the bee thing. I wouldn't have brought him there if I knew he could kill you."

"I'm sorry I got Tucker to kill him," Danny said, "I shouldn't have freaked out like that. And I probably should've brought my epipen, anyway."

"I forgive you."

"And I don't blame you."

The doorknob turned, and Danny forced them apart. Prince fell off the chair and rolled under the desk just as Jack opened the door.

"Hey Dad," Danny said, spinning his chair again, "What's up?"

"Who were you talking to?"

"Uh," Danny awkwardly held up the phone, "Grandpa? Also, the phone's dead now so uh... yeah."

Jack didn't look convinced as he took the phone from his son. "Hey, Danny-boy?"

Danny stopped spinning in the chair and looked up at his dad. "Yeah?"

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" He put a hand on the back of his neck; a movement which Danny awkwardly copied. "I know you're, uh, stressed and all that but- if you want to talk-"

"I'm fine," Danny quickly said, "I'm fine Dad, okay? Don't worry about me."

Jack looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he nodded and stepped back out of the room.

"That was weird," Danny said, rolling his chair over to kick the door closed. Prince was leaning against the wall when Danny looked back. "My dad doesn't usually… wait, do you think he heard that?"

"Wouldn't he have broken in if he did?" Prince pointed out, "I think he would've done something if he knew I was here."

"Good point." Danny frowned, "Still. I don't think he's okay." He stood, "I'm going to go tell Jazz. You can uh, draw something cool."

Prince grabbed his sketchbook, "I'm going to draw something pretty instead."

Danny put a hand on his chest and gave a dramatic gasp, "Oh my god, my friend's a nerd."

Prince stuck out his tongue. Danny laughed as he turned around and left his room.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch slunk into the doorless kitchen silently, moving towards the stove. The room was dark and empty, and as he moved forward Stopwatch quickly felt more like he didn't belong. He'd obviously be kicked out once they figured out what he'd done to Infinite. Maybe even destroyed. Hourglass would certainly never talk to him again.

He could worry about that later. Stopwatch bent down, trying to find which cupboard had the kettle. He was distracted from his search as he became aware of footprints heading towards him. Stopwatch spun around, ectoblast in hand and lighting up the entire room.

Infinite replied by calmly raising his hands. "Chill," He had a bandage just above his left elbow, stained slightly with green. _That's where I stabbed him._ "It's just me." He was wearing a purple backpack instead of his cloak. He shrugged one of the straps off and swung it around, reaching into one of the open pockets. He barely used his left arm to do any of it. "This is for you," He said, and handed Stopwatch a travel mug.

It was warm in his hands. Still, Stopwatch frowned. "What is this?"

"Hot chocolate," Infinite said, "I had to go home and make it, since Tardis kind of banned me from cooking in her kitchen considering the uh, beans thing… from a while ago…" He coughed and pointed to the table. "Can we talk? It's not about laser tag, I promise. We moved that to Tuesday."

Hesitantly, Stopwatch sat down. Infinite grabbed a chair and dragged it over. He sat backwards in it, licking his lips and with his arms wrapped around the backrest.

"I…" He took a breath in, "I don't blame you for stabbing me. You were scared. I understand. I forgive you. And you should consider yourself lucky, because I don't normally forgive people who stab me."

Stopwatch raised his eyebrows, "Uh, okay?"

"Yeah," Infinite lifted a hand, resting it on the back of his neck. "I have one question for you," He said, "Why do you keep going back there?"

Stopwatch shrugged and took a drink. The hot chocolate tasted vaguely minty.

"Are you mad at the people around you?" Infinite continued once he realized Stopwatch wouldn't reply. "Are you scared? Dealing with people like that, I can't see why you wouldn't be. They've probably threatened you a bunch of times." He paused, "I'll bet they've threatened everyone else, too."

Stopwatch refused to look up at him.

"And because of what they've done to you, you're certain they'll act on those threats. And maybe they will," Infinite shrugged, "I don't know them like you do. I'm really out of my depth, and I know that now." He tipped his head to the side, "You know what they're doing to you is wrong, right?"

"They train me," Stopwatch said.

"They _hurt_ you," Infinite said, "It doesn't matter what they teach you, or do for you. They tried to kill me and they carved open your face. That's a statement, not punishment. But you still went back." His hand slid down to his lap, "Because you're scared of what'll happen if you don't, aren't you?"

Stopwatch grabbed the mug a little tighter. "Where are you going with this?"

Infinite replied with an awkward laugh. "I know what it's like to be in a situation where putting yourself in danger is the only way to protect everyone you care about. And this whole time I've been going through this, looking at your situation as if you were someone I had to save. But maybe you don't need saving. Maybe you're too busy saving someone else for that."

Stopwatch raised his eyebrows, "Uh…"

"I'm not going to try and stop you anymore," Infinite said. "I don't like it, but I've gotten the gist of what happens when someone tries to stop you. For now, it might be safer if you keep doing… what you have to." He held tightly onto his pants, pulling at the fabric. "It'll be hard, and I really don't like it, but you have your reasons. I can understand that." Infinite flattened his hands against his legs, "But this only continues as long as I think you can handle this, and as long as you're on our side. If I have any reason to believe that you're an actual threat to anyone here this agreement ends and I will personally make sure you suffer." He was glaring at Stopwatch, green eyes glowing much brighter than before. And then he took a breath, blinked, and Infinite's eyes were back to normal. "That being said… if you ever, uh, want to quit going there, and you're scared of what'll happen…" He smiled, "I'll be with you every step of the way."

Stopwatch didn't move. He sat there, watching Infinite, waiting for the smile to fall off his stupid face. "I don't need your help."

"The entire point of that thing was literally that I'm stepping back and not helping you." Infinite crossed his arms, leaning back. "I thought that was clear."

"Yeah, well," Stopwatch was by no means awake enough to have this conversation right now, "You couldn't beat them, anyway."

"Maybe not," Infinite admitted, "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try. I'm not letting you suffer alone."

"I'm not suffering!"

"They put Clockwork's initials on your face because you tried to stop them from killing me!" Infinite threw his hands in the air, "You don't like or particularly trust people, you're jumpy and think people are going to hurt you, and you're making excuses for all of it! They've screwed up nearly every part of you in the past and last week they fucking branded you! Call it what you like, but they're hurting you and you have no idea how much it hurts everyone who has to sit there and watch it happen because you're convinced you have to do this alone!"

"I can handle it!" Stopwatch snapped, "I've been doing this shit since I was eleven and I'm still fine!"

"Fine? _Fine?_ Do I need to go over my list of shit wrong with you again?!" Infinite stood, and Stopwatch did the same. "You're making excuses for the people who are hurting you!"

Stopwatch slammed the mug down on the table so his hands would be free. "And you're making this all about you!"

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me!" Stopwatch dropped his voice slightly, mimicking Infinite's. "Oh no, I almost died! Time to take over this entire damn thing because I'm incapable of going about my existence without being the center of attention! Everyone, focus on me, I'm going to weasel my way into your lives that were better off before I showed my ugly face!" His voice went back to normal as he jabbed a finger towards Infinite's chest. "I should have let you die!"

For a second, Infinite looked hurt. And then he drew up to his full height, looking down at Stopwatch. "I see." He turned around, "You know, I thought I was doing a good thing by trying to help you. But I see it now; the best thing anyone could do for you would've been to destroy your core when we had the chance." He walked out the door, "I'm not doing this anymore."

Stopwatch watched him go, eyebrows raised once again. _Okay?_ He lifted the mug and took a drink.

Infinite was pretty good at making hot chocolate, he had to admit that.

* * *

*Jazz hands* Great googly moogly it's all gone to shit. You see Stopwatch, this is why we can't have nice things.

On the bright side, we have some Vlad next chapter. And knowing me, ya'll know what that means? _Badger Cereal fun times._

Any sort of love for this story is amazing! Flames, however, will be sent to my friends who will then laugh at how much of an asshole you are.


	9. Bitter Reunions (Part 1)

I'm going to fight this chapter. Splitting Images set the bar too high and writing this chapter made me mad. Which is unfortunate for numerous reasons, most of them being the fact that this is _Bitter Reunions._ We have _Vlad,_ who needs to take a nap, another point of view debut, and the return of one of my favourite characters. And yet this chapter still pisses me off. I'm gonna fight it.

Usual warnings, Vlad is a giant nerd, Stopwatch doesn't play well with others, Positgen continues to be a dick, blah blah blah. None of this is surprising.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

"Jack, would you mind getting the generator ready?" Maddie asked, turning from one of her friends to the other. "And Vlad, could you hold this panel in place for me?"

"Of course," He reached over, holding a panel open. Maddie tipped a small vial of ectoplasm in. The panel snapped back down, and Maddie turned her attention to one on the opposite side. Their professor would be here any moment- assuming he felt like being on time today- and their synthetic ectoplasm had a tendency to do strange things if they left it alone for too long. "Oh, Maddie, before we get too distracted, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for _such_ a long time-"

"In a minute, Vlad." She looked over her shoulder at Jack, who was finishing up a burger. "Jack, could you fill the filtrator with ecto-purifier and then finish your lunch?"

"On it, baby!" Maddie rolled her eyes playfully and stepped back, taking notice of how Vlad had pulled away. A moment later, Jack moved behind the counter to stand beside their generator.

"I'm telling you two, it won't work!" Vlad groaned, motioning to the portal as he moved into place. He had to hold the portal when they turned it on, since Jack had pointed out the shock from opening a portal could knock it over and ruin all their hard work. "Our gateway is much too small to create a stable portal! Now, if we had gone with _my_ design-"

"Bogus, V-man, it totally will!" Jack cut his friend off, "This portal is guaranteed to bust open a wall into the ghost dimension!"

"Relax, Vlad," Maddie placed a hand on his arm, and Vlad looked a bit off at her touch. "You readjusted calculations for a smaller setting, didn't you? It'll be fine." She pulled her hand away before Vlad could say anything and moved to Jack's side.

"When's the Prof going to get here?" Jack asked, "I want to fire this baby up!"

"Give it a minute, Jack!" Maddie chided him, picking up the notebook. "And Harri said she might show up once she's done with work, so keep an eye out for her too." She leafed through the pages, smiling fondly at what she saw. The notebook contained every single one of the calculations Maddie and her boys had done since they'd officially started building their project. Vlad had done the majority of it, since mathematics was his major. He'd gone over all their calculations time and time again, crossing out the ones that didn't work with a blue pen. Jack preferred pencil, or the green pen he'd picked up earlier that year. He wrote little comments beside most of them, or doodled little ghosts. It was adorable.

Maddie directed her attention away from the doodles, flipping towards the end. There was a bit written in green pen, with none of Vlad's 'corrections' on it. Jack had drawn a little ghost with a speech bubble saying 'last minute fixes so it's boo-tiful!'

Maddie sucked a breath in. Jack had beaten them there, and according to Vlad he hadn't even come back to their dorm. He couldn't have spent the night messing with their portal, could he? Not with this math. "Jack," She kept her voice quiet. It wouldn't do them any good to get mad at Jack now, as Vlad surely would. They needed to fix these before the professor showed up. "These calculations aren't right."

He looked over at her, "What's that, Mads?"

"You made a mistake here," She kept her voice low. "The charge you want to send through our ectoplasm is far too high- this is dangerous, Jack! It could explode!"

"Oh. Oh! Vladdie, move!" Jack attempted to hop over the counter and slipped, crashing to the ground with the remote still in hand.

"Jack!" Maddie gasped, moving around the counter to help him. Jack must have hit his head on something, as there was a deep cut right above his right eyebrow. "Are you alright?"

Vlad moved a few steps forwards, standing between them and the portal. "This is a science lab, not a track meet. Why would you-"

The filtrator was starting to spark and smoke. The portal was glowing. Maddie looked down, realizing that Jack had fallen on the remote. Vlad had turned back to the portal when Maddie raised her head, and was taking quick steps towards the filtrator.

For a split second, the ectoplasm in their Proto-Portal twisted and spread through it. Vlad froze, staring at it, and Jack squeezed Maddie's hand. "We did it," He whispered.

And then all hell broke loose.

The ectoplasm exploded outwards, a blast catching Vlad in the face. He screamed as it threw him back, over the counter and onto the ground behind it with a horrible _crack._ The remainder of the blast bounced around the room, and Maddie felt Jack pull her to the ground. It only took a few seconds but it felt like an eternity, and as the smoke cleared she could still hear Vlad's screams.

Maddie scrambled forwards, disconnecting the filtrator from the generator- what Vlad had tried to do. When she looked back, Jack was at Vlad's side. Maddie stood and for a moment found herself frozen.

Vlad's face was coated in boils. Most were tinted yellow or green, but some misshapen ones were black. Jack had grabbed his roommate's wrists and was holding them away from his face, and away from some of the bleeding boils he'd already tried to destroy.

"Get out," Vlad was screaming, thrashing his free limbs and trying to pull his arms free. "Get out get out get _out of me-_" He pulled a hand free and dug his nails into the skin around his eye, screaming once again.

"I'm going to get help," Maddie whispered, not sure if anyone could hear her, and then she ran. She ran and she didn't come back.

But that was twenty years ago.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny spun in his chair, sending the homework on his desk a glare. "Nobody likes you, chemistry," He said, "I should light you on fire."

His unfinished lab write up, which was not sentient, offered no reply.

"Maybe you could get lost in a ghost attack," Danny frowned, "I am literally talking to a piece of paper. Well, that's enough homework for today." He swiped it aside, grabbed his headphones, and moved to boot up a game of Doomed.

A second later, there was a loud crash and Danny looked over to see that something had thrown Prince - thankfully intangibly - through the wall. Danny dropped his headphones and moved over to the ghost's side, helping him off the floor.

"Hi Danny," Prince said, resting a hand on his forehead.

"You okay?" Danny reached out, trying to find any pain or emotions from the ghost in front of him. Oddly enough, there was nothing.

"Fine," Prince muttered, looking quickly between the wall and Danny. "You should get out of here."

Danny raised an eyebrow as his ghost sense was triggered. _Yeah, no duh there's a ghost nearby._ "You're not actually going to fight ghosts in my room, are you?"

He didn't get a response, because at that moment a bright green vulture in a fez broke through his window and crashed into Prince. The two were knocked back into the door, leaving Danny standing there in shock as posters fell off his walls. He dove forwards, catching a model rocket just before it would shatter on the floor.

Two more vultures- one of which appeared to have an adam's apple, and the other sunglasses- shot through the broken window, digging their talons into Prince's shoulders. This time Danny felt the ghost's pain and heard him scream.

Danny placed the rocket under his desk and jumped up. He grabbed Sunglasses Vulture by the wing and smacked him into a wall. He tried to pull the other two away, but they held on much tighter than their friend had.

"Hey, wait," Sunglasses said in what seemed to be a Yiddish accent, causing the other two to stop their flapping and simply pin Prince to the ground. Prince snapped his teeth at one before sinking through the floor and popping up between them and Danny.

"What?" The original vulture motioned to Danny and Prince with his wings, "I don't care who they look like; we have orders!"

"What orders?" Danny asked, and the vultures exchanged a look. "Who told you to attack him? Answer me!" He reached for a pencil, ready to use it as a weapon, only for Prince to pull it out of his hand and throw it aside.

The vultures exchanged a look. "We are under orders," The original one admitted, "From an associate of Volana's."

Prince made a high-pitched noise and went very, very still.

Danny grabbed Prince's sleeve and pulled the ghost closer to him, stepping away from the vultures. "Who's Volana? What did she tell you to do?"

"Please don't say her name," Prince whispered.

Danny frowned, but nodded. "Right." He directed his attention back to the ghosts, "I asked you a question." _I'm ordering around a giant dead green bird. This is normal._

The vultures exchanged a look before the third spoke. "We are to find out information on the location and situation of Prince Phantom."

Danny felt Prince cling to his arm. He stood up a little bit straighter, glaring at the vultures. "Have you found him, then?"

"No," Sunglasses said. He motioned with his wings towards Prince, "Your _friend_ there has been making sure we couldn't."

Danny pulled his arm away from Prince and motioned for him to stand back. "That's because he's not here. Check... um..." _Crud where's somewhere far away from here, _"Uh, somewhere in Florida?"

Sunglasses Vulture smacked the other two on the back of their heads. "See? What did I tell you? Florida!"

Danny grinned, pointing to his broken window. "Well, you should get going. It's a long flight."

"Thanks, kid!" The third vulture said, and the three of them then proceeded to break Danny's other window as they left.

"Great," Danny crossed his arms, "Now I have to tell my parents about that. How am I going to explain two broken windows?" He turned back to Prince, looking at the ghost who seemed to be trying to make himself smaller. "Hey, I got rid of them. It's okay."

"They're going to come back," Prince said, glancing towards the windows. "They're here for me; they're going to come back. And they're going to hurt you for lying to them."

Danny pulled open a drawer on his desk and grabbed another pencil. "Then I'll fight them."

Prince gave him a curious look. "You are _not_ fighting ghosts with a pencil."

"Why not?" He twirled it between the fingers of his left hand, "It's sharp enough." He moved towards his broken windows, still twirling it. "Any ideas for how I'm going to explain this to my parents?" He nudged a particularly large piece of glass with his toe. "Seriously Prince, I'm open to suggestions."

Prince wrinkled his nose and reached down to grab one of the fallen posters. A second later, Danny felt something grab onto his sleeve. He looked over just as Sunglasses Vulture got a good hold on his shoulder and pulled him through the wall. "I've got the kid!"

"Oh no you don't!" Danny reached up, grabbing onto the bird's wing and pulling down. The vulture struggled to stay in the air as Danny attempted to get a good hold. He shoved the pencil into the ghost's eye, screaming a battle cry. "Put me _down!_" His shirt ripped, and Danny fell.

Prince caught him, forcing the two together. _"Stop falling to your death."_

"_I'm not trying to," _Danny frowned, _"Wait, why aren't we talking out loud?"_

"_Um..."_

"_And why are the birds judging us?"_

"_Because they're ugly and nobody likes birds?"_

The vultures seemed confused, and kept exchanging looks that Danny didn't feel like deciphering. He let Prince take control, practically zoning out as the ghost grabbed one of the birds. He didn't exactly care enough to notice the rest.

He became aware of the world again when Prince, for some reason, chose to beat the vultures with the thermos instead of sucking them into it.

"_That is not the intended use, Prince."_

"Shush," Prince said, whacking two of the vultures with the third. "Go away!"

"And don't go messing any windshields on your way out of town!" Danny called as they landed on the street. They separated, and Danny became very aware of the pain in his shoulder. "See? I can totally fight ghosts with a pencil."

"That doesn't mean you should." Prince said, and shoved the thermos into Danny's hand. "This is full and I'm pretty sure it'll explode if I open it. And, um, your shirt is dead."

Danny looked over at the tattered remains of his right sleeve and shrugged his left shoulder, "Whatever; I have like ten of these shirts." _I'm more worried about the bleeding talon marks. Ow._ "Any chance you could clean up my room a bit, considering that you totally led those ghosts to my room?"

Prince stuck out his tongue and moved quickly back up to Danny's room, leaving the human alone in the street with a ripped shirt and Fenton Thermos in hand.

_Thanks. _ Danny rolled his eyes and made his way up the front steps, unlocking the door with the spare key hid under the welcome mat.

Danny opened the door slowly to find that his parents and sister were all sitting in the main room and staring at him. _Of course. _"Hi Mom, hi Dad." He walked in, setting the thermos down in the closet. "So... my windows are kind of broken now. If nobody has any problems with it, I'm going to take over the guest room until they get fixed. Okay? Okay. Goodbye," He started up the stairs.

"Danny," His mom said, "Get back down here."

Groaning, Danny shoved the picture into his pocket and made his way back downstairs. "First of all, I'm fine, no need to worry-"

Jazz set the book she'd been reading off to the side, "Danny, you're bleeding. I'm going to go find the first aid kit." She ran off to the bathroom.

"It looks worse than it is!" Danny held up his left hand in surrender before moving it to put pressure on his shoulder. "Really. Fine. No problems here at all-" _This is really starting to hurt. I hope it's not deep enough that I need a hospital._

His dad walked over, picked Danny up, and set him down on the couch. Jazz returned a moment later and set the kit down on the cushion beside him.

"What happened?" Maddie asked, grabbing a pair of scissors from the kit and cutting off the rest of Danny's shirt.

"Yeah..." Danny shrugged his uninjured shoulder, "I don't have a good answer for that."

Maddie grabbed some disinfectant and knelt down in front of her son. "Danny..."

"I'd tell you if I could," Danny said, not making eye contact. _But Jazz will make me see a therapist and you'll start trying to figure out why I was doing this... basically it's better when you know nothing. Yes. Better._ He didn't say anything else, and the family sat in silence for several long moments as Maddie attached a gauze pad to her son's shoulder.

"Why won't you talk to us?" Maddie said softly. Danny pretended to be incredibly fascinated in his mismatched socks, letting out a low hiss as his mom pressed a cloth to his wound. "Danny, please. Your grades are slipping, you're constantly injured, and you won't do anything in the lab-"

"It's nothing," Danny cut her off. "I'm fine, I promise, I'm just under a lot of pressure lately." _And there's a ghost cleaning my room._ Something crashed down outside, and Danny flinched. _I swear, Prince, if that was you-_

"Hey," Jack grabbed his son's arm, "Relax Danny-boy, it was just a garbage can."

"Oh." _You see Prince, this is why we can't have nice things._ _That was supposed to be in there, idiot._

"I know why Danny doesn't trust you," Jazz spoke up, ignoring her brother's groan. "You've made very little effort to reconnect with him since the accident!"

"Jazz-"

"He was badly injured by one of your inventions, do you have any idea how traumatizing that is for a child?"

"First of all, I'm fourteen-"

"And now the both of you are distancing yourselves from it and each other! I could go on for hours about how harmful this is going to be to his mental state if you don't act. You need to reconnect! Spend time with him! Tell him about yourselves! He knows nothing about your past; how you met, where your first date was-"

Danny grabbed a roll of bandages and threw them at his sister, causing her to stop talking and glare at him. "Jazz, shut up. Please. Also; fourteen, not a child, not damaged, thank you and goodnight."

"You know what Jasmine," Jack said, holding a hand to his chin as Maddie started wrapping her son's shoulder. "That's a great idea!"

"It is?" Jazz said.

"What is?" Maddie asked.

"Oh no," Danny groaned.

"This is!" Jack grabbed a green and gold invitation from a side table and held it up, "You can come with your mother and me to our college reunion!"

Danny raised his eyebrows, reading over the letters on the front. _University of Wisconsin?_ "I can?"

"Wisconsin?" Jazz groaned. "Dad, that's not what I meant!"

"I think it'll be perfect," Maddie said, "We could leave a couple days earlier and turn this into a road trip! We used to go on trips like this all the time when you two were little-"

"Was this before or after dad got us put on the no fly list?" Jazz asked.

"...Anyway," Jack said, "My old pal Vladdie is hosting this huge shindig! We'll take the RV so we can sleep wherever, and on the way there you two can listen to me blather on about my college days! And ghosts!"

"Wow," Danny said, glaring at his sister. "I can't wait."

"You two should head upstairs and pack!" He continued, "We leave bright and early tomorrow morning!"

"Why didn't we know about this beforehand?" Jazz crossed her arms, "Dad-"

"I'll be upstairs!" Danny pulled away from his family and ran upstairs to avoid being part of the argument.

Prince was sitting on the roof when Danny came back to his room. The broken glass was mostly gone, and the blinds were taped over the window. "I like your parents," He said, hugging his creepy doll close to his chest. "They fixed your shoulder."

"Good," Danny muttered, digging through his desk drawer. _I know Jazz put you in here somewhere, you stupid Tylenol._ "You'd better like them, because we're going on a road trip with them."

"Wait," Prince flipped, floating down onto Danny's bed. "We're what?"

.-.-.-.-.-.

"I don't get it," Jazz groaned, setting down the bag of snacks they'd bought at the gas station. "You goof up and I have to spend the next three days crammed in the Fenton ghost RV."

"At least you're human," Prince grumbled from where he sat invisibly at Danny's feet. Danny grabbed the snack bag and discretely handed the ghost a little bag of two-bite brownies.

"Sorry," Danny said. "It's not like I planned this. Actually, you did. This is all your fault, so shut up."

Jazz whacked him with a bag of chips before grabbing her purse, pulling a book out of it. "You have something to do for the next few hours, right?"

"I have my phone and it's fully charged," Danny pulled it from his pocket, tossing it from hand to hand before looking down at Prince. "But if you have a spare book, I'm not going to say no..."

Jazz reached into her purse again, handing him a book. Danny didn't bother to see which one it was before he set it down next to Prince. _That should keep you busy for a little bit._ Their parents climbed in as he thanked her, and after a quick discussion between about the quality of gas station fudge they were off.

Prince was surprisingly quiet throughout the drive. He didn't protest when Jack and Maddie started attempting to make up a road trip song, and said nothing when Danny joined in with his own off-key additions. Danny was fairly certain he didn't even move from his spot or turn visible when the human crew was dragged out to take pictures in front of various things. It was only when it started to get dark that Prince did something even close to complaining.

Danny jumped as a cold hand was pressed against his leg. "I can't read in the dark."

"Hm?" Jazz took out her earbuds, "Did you say something, Danny?"

"Uh... yeah!" Danny said a little too quickly, "Mom, I'm hungry!"

"Food can't help me read," Prince grumbled.

"We'll stop soon," Maddie promised, looking out the window. "Oh, that diner looks cute! Jack, pull over!"

Danny grabbed onto Prince with one hand and the door with the other as his Dad turned the RV a little too sharply, hitting a stop sign as he did so.

They got a booth, looked over their menus, and Danny tried to pretend having an invisible ghost looking over his shoulder wasn't unnerving.

"Chicken fried rice?" Prince whispered, poking Danny's arm. "Danny, how'd a chicken fry rice? It can't even hold the pan. It doesn't have thumbs."

Danny took a long drink of the strawberry milkshake he'd ordered to cover up his laugh, nearly choking as he did so. In the end, he got a burger with fries so Prince would have something to discreetly eat.

"Eat up, everyone!" Danny flinched and shared a look with his sister, wishing their dad would talk quieter. They weren't the only ones in the little diner; across the room, the occupants of a table of two flinched when he spoke. One of them, who was in a long black coat, put his head down on the table. His companion, who was dressed in yellow, started throwing fries at him. "I want everyone full of energy when we meet Masters tomorrow!"

Jazz dropped the mozzarella stick she'd been dipping in sauce. "Wait, wait, wait. _Masters?_ As in, Vlad Masters? Affluent Magazine's _Billionaire of the Year_ Vlad Masters?"

Danny choked on his milkshake, sputtering and coughing as bits went flying. "You guys know a billionaire?!"

"We haven't seen him for nearly twenty years now," Maddie said. "There was an... incident."

"But in college, he was my best friend!" Jack motioned wildly, and Maddie leaned away to avoid being smacked with his hand. "We were very popular guys; roommates, lab partners, we did everything together! And then the thick fingers of fate stuck themselves right in Vlad's eyes. Our proto-portal exploded, ectoplasm was _everywhere,_ and Vlad was hospitalized with a horrible case of ecto acne. It devastated him... and killed his social life! We haven't spoken since that day. But after all this time, I think he's finally forgiven me!"

"Huh," Danny grabbed his burger, "I'm just still stuck on the fact that you guys know a billionaire. What was that, you've been telling me since I was five, about how we can't afford to get a puppy?"

"Danny," Maddie said, _"No."_

"That's interesting," Jazz said. "What exactly is ecto acne?"

"It's a disease caused by contaminated ectoplasm," Maddie said, "It's strange, though. It's supposed to take weeks to fully develop, while Vlad's nearly reached the final stage in under a minute. I suppose it could have something to do with our portal... hm, we'll have to ask him about that."

"Portal?" Prince whispered, and Danny glanced at him for a second. "Like their portal? From your basement?"

Danny sat up straighter. "Your friend had an accident with a ghost portal, too?" Jazz reached over and put a comforting hand on Danny's arm.

Jack nodded, "Yep, our proto-portal was our first attempt at breaking into the Ghost Zone back when we were in college! And now Vladdie apparently has the ghost of something called the Dairy King that haunts his home!"

"Dairy King?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Should I get my butter jokes?" Prince whispered by Danny's ear, and Danny hid his grin behind his burger.

"I don't know," He muttered back, "They're kind of cheesy."

"True," Prince said, "And besides, if we start this war we both know you're going to get creamed."

"Now you're just milking it."

"I can't help it; these jokes are dairy good."

"Excuse me," Danny felt Prince shrink away as the person in yellow approached their table. She waved a hand, and Danny saw her companion roll his eyes before heading towards the bathroom. "I couldn't help but overhear. You mentioned something about a ghost portal, and then a Dairy King?"

"That we did!" Jack stood up, holding out his hand. "Jack Fenton, ghost hunter extraordinaire! We were just talking about the spirit possibly haunting my old pal!"

The woman took Jack's hand and shook it three times, "Kathrine Archer! My boyfriend and little bro and I travel around, looking into ghosts and other supernatural stuff!"

"Oh?" Maddie smiled, "You're interested in the spectral world as well?"

"You betcha!" She stole one of Danny's fries and smiled. "It's super rad. Well, unless you're dealing with something that eats people, because nobody likes those." She wrinkled her nose, "That was not a good day."

"Okay," Jazz said, dropping her food. "Danny and I will be leaving now. You all can keep doing whatever this is, but we'll be outside." She shoved her brother out of the booth and dragged him out of the restaurant. Prince followed, still gripping Danny's other arm.

"Danny," He whispered, "Danny we have a problem-"

"Hold on," Danny mumbled back and yanked his arm away from Jazz. "Thank you for ruining my dinner, Jazz! I'll be stretching my legs near that forest behind the stupid diner if you want to ruin anything else for me."

Jazz held her hands close to her chest, "I was just trying to help you."

"Congratulations! You didn't." Danny spun on his heel and walked away, stopping once there were two trees between him and his sister. "Okay Prince, what is it?"

Prince had his arms crossed as he turned visible, though he didn't really look solid. Danny was about to ask, but was distracted when Prince spoke. "Be nice to your sister."

Danny scoffed, "What are you, my mom?"

"...No?" Prince let his hands fall to his sides. "But your sister is nice. So you should be nice to her, too."

"Literally the second week we were stuck together you said you wanted to see her naked, so, shut up."

"I didn't actually want to!" Prince groaned, "I was just trying to bother you! But that woman, Kathrine, she had a whistle."

Danny held up his hands, "Whoa, whoa, she had a what?"

"A whistle!" He pointed at the one hanging around Danny's neck, "Like that! It was on a pink string, though. I don't think Kathrine's good at matching colours."

"Huh," He pulled it out from under his shirt, "Do you think she-" His ghost sense cut him off, and Danny looked over his shoulder just in time to see the trio of ghost vultures diving towards him.

Prince grabbed Danny by his wrist and dragged the human behind him before raising a hand. A wall of green sprung from it, and Danny watched as the birds smashed face-first into Prince's shield.

"Whoa," He said as Prince let the shield fall, "That was awesome."

"Thanks! Don't move, okay?" Prince moved a bit closer to the birds before he reached down and grabbed one by the neck. "I thought we told you to leave us alone."

"That was before," Sunglasses Vulture said from his spot on the ground, "We've got new orders now, _Prince Phantom,_ and they're directly from the High Council."

Prince flinched and dropped the other ghost. "Oh."

"Sorry kiddo," The vulture Prince had dropped- the one with an adam's apple- said, "We've got ourselves to look out for, y'know? Can't disobey the Obser-"

"Please don't say their name," Prince whispered, and Danny moved towards him. "I'm not going back there."

"And we aren't going back without you," The third vulture said, "Nothin' personal."

"I know," Prince raised his fists, "Danny, run please."

"Nope," Danny pulled Prince back to his side, looking down at the vultures. "Look, I don't know who these Obser-things are but if you want to hurt Prince you're going to have to go through _me_ first!"

"Danny," Prince whispered, "Danny no."

The vultures floated up a bit and exchanged a look before they dived at two of them. Danny made no effort to run, and instead brought the whistle to his mouth. "I always knew I'd die on a Monday," The vultures collapsed in a heap a second after he blew it, and Danny laughed as he started to drag Prince away. "Heh, ghost fighting is actually kind of fun when they aren't stealing your body or- oh crap I went the wrong way." He let go of Prince, "Well, this went well." The vultures let out a screech and Danny winced. "Okay, I take back the fun part. Prince?" He looked back and frowned, "Darn it, again?"

The vultures let out another screech as Danny snapped his fingers in front of the ghost's face, as if it would somehow snap him out of whatever was going on. He spent a few precious seconds trying to figure out why Prince had started going tense whenever the whistle was blown before a screech ripped through the air. Realizing the vultures would be there any second, he shoved Prince into a bush and did his best to look annoyed.

"Oh sure, leave me alone why don't you?" Danny yelled, hoping the vultures were close enough to hear. "Fine, go back to Amity, see if I care! I hope the vultures eat your guts!" He waited a few seconds. Then a few more. "Wait, did that actually work?"

"Actually I think it's my sister, or maybe her boyfriend, who intercepted them. Either way, they have a tree branch." Danny spun around, staring at the man he hadn't heard approach. He gave a little two-fingered salute, looking as if he was overheating in his thick brown coat. "I would know, I'm psychic."

Danny raised his eyebrows, "Lewis?"

"The one and only," He crossed over to Danny and put a hand on his shoulder, "Well, in this Timeline at least. So how's life?"

"Prince is acting weird and I think it's the whistle's fault!" Danny burst out, pointing to the bush he'd shoved the ghost into.

"What does everyone have against exchanging pleasantries?" Lewis shrugged and let go of Danny. He knelt down, pulling Prince out of the bush. "Prince Phantom, you are dismissed."

Prince shook his head, blinked several times, and pulled away from Lewis. "Uh..."

"The birds are gone," Danny supplied, "They've been taken care of in some weird, unexplained way that apparently involves a tree branch."

"Oh," Prince said, standing up as Lewis did the same. The ghost moved back, hiding a little behind Danny. "Okay."

"Aww," Lewis made a little heart with his hands, "That's adorable. So you two actually friendshipped, huh?"

"Um..." Danny looked over at Prince, who was clinging to his arm. "Yes...?"

"Good, good! Good for you, _and_ the world!" Lewis clapped his hands, "And you haven't died yet! That's also good!"

"I have," Prince said.

"...Right," Lewis said, pointing to the left. "So, you two go that way until you find a path. Take it uphill and move quickly so your family doesn't worry. I'm going to go find mine, see if they're done with their date yet." He rested a hand briefly on Danny's arm as he passed by, "Don't be tempted by material possessions, you've already got everything you need." He left without another word.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny spent that night on his bed in the RV's cab, while Prince spent it in a makeshift bed in the bathtub. Danny had laid awake for a few hours that night, paranoid that someone would walk in and see the ghost. The next morning, he was woken when his dad turned a sharp corner and caused him to fall out of his bed.

"Worst alarm ever," He groaned, "Why didn't anyone wake me before?"

There was no reply. Not even his sister, who had turned her bed back into a seat, replied. She looked oddly tense.

Danny pulled himself back up into his bed and grabbed his seatbelt. "What'd I miss?" He kicked his blanket aside, "Did Dad hit something? No...? Someone?"

"Mom," Jazz said, "He's awake if you want to do it now."

"Do what?" His dad hit the brakes and Danny grabbed onto the seat in an effort to stop himself from falling over. "Oh yeah, because that's an _excellent_ answer-"

Maddie made her way back to where her son was sitting and set a plate down in his lap. There was an apple with one of his epilepsy pills sitting right beside it. Maddie sat down a water bottle beside him, staring at her son. "Take your meds, Danny."

Danny groaned, _"Mom."_

"Danny, we just spent the last seven hours driving so that we could do something useful instead of sitting there and watching you shake." She crossed her arms, "We've been much too lax with you taking your medication. I don't care about the side effects, so don't try to weasel out of it by bringing up those."

Danny didn't look at her, "Sorry." _Darn it, Prince._

Maddie uncrossed her arms, letting out a long sigh. "I'm sorry too, honey. I promise we'll see if we can get this sorted out once we go back home but for now just take it. Please, for me?"

Danny swallowed the pill with a long drink of water and bit a chunk out of the apple before grabbing his bag. "I'm going to get dressed, is that okay with everyone?" He didn't wait for an answer and moved quickly into the bathroom.

Prince was sitting upside down and on the roof, with some sort of flashlight in his teeth as he drew on his left hand. He gave a little grunt of acknowledgement when Danny showed up.

"You're a horrible person and I hate you," Danny said.

"What?" The little flashlight fell out of his mouth, hitting the ground and causing the batteries to drop out. "What'd I do?"

"You shocked me!"

Prince frowned, "No I didn't."

"You did too!"

"I did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

There was a knock on the door, "Sweetie," Maddie asked, "Are you okay in there?"

_Crap._ "Yeah, I'm fine Mom!" He called back, "Just... talking to myself!"

"Alright," His mom didn't sound alright, "Hurry up and get dressed, Danny, we're about twenty minutes away."

"Oh, okay!" Danny called, wondering how his parents had turned a three day road trip into a day and a half. He turned back to Prince, "Can you like, look away or go somewhere else?"

"Why- oh." Prince nodded, "Okay. But um..." He looked down at the apple Danny still had in his hand. "Can I have that?"

Danny held the fruit up, "I took a bite out of it."

"So?" Prince frowned, "I still want it."

Rolling his eyes, he tossed the apple to Prince. "Enjoy." The ghost disappeared and Danny turned to the sink. He took a deep breath in and turned the cold water on, ready to splash some in his face. It was probably an accident; Prince wasn't going to be outright mean to him. They were friends now after all.

The water wasn't coming out of the tap. Danny frowned before reaching over and pressing the button which would cause the wall to pull back and reveal the shower. Instead Danny was treated to a large sheet of ice which coated the walls and seeped down the pipes.

Danny pushed the button again, covering Prince's mess back up. "Dad!" He called, "Uh, just thought I should let you know that there's something wrong with the sink!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

From the outside, Vlad's house was huge. Danny had seen hotels that were smaller than his mansion was. It looked like a castle and was decorated in green, white, and gold.

Vlad stepped onto the steps as the RV pulled up. There was something vaguely unsettling about the man, which Danny ignored. It was probably the fact that he was insanely rich.

"Jack," Danny could hear him saying as his parents jumped out of the RV, "And Maddie! So good to see you! I wasn't aware you were coming so... early."

Danny checked his watch. It was 7:15. _Yikes._

"Vladdie!" Danny and Jazz hopped out of the RV as their Dad picked up the billionaire and wrapped him in a crushing hug. "It's been way too long! I missed ya, man!"

Vlad shoved him away and landed easily on the ground. "Yes, I'm sure you did." He turned back to Maddie and took notice of the two teens, who'd moved to stand awkwardly behind their mom. "And these must your children!"

"You bet!" Jack said, moving behind the two and pushing them forwards. "This is Jazzy-pants, and this is Danny!"

"Dad," Jazz whispered in annoyance.

Danny rolled his eyes and held out a hand. _Time to be polite to the rich guy._ "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

Vlad took his hand and shook it once. "Likewise, dear boy. Please, come in." He guided everyone aside from Jack up the stairs and through the door. Somehow, the door closed right before Jack could enter.

The entrance hall was coated with even more green and gold, along with football jerseys. It reminded Danny of some sort of sports museum.

"What's with all the green and gold?" Jazz asked, pulling away. "You're a billionaire. Surely you can afford an interior decorator?"

"Jazz, hello?" Danny motioned around them, putting his limited sports knowledge to good use. "Football helmets, jerseys, cheese heads; he's a Packers fanatic."

"Hello!" His dad called from outside.

"Oh _fanatic_ is such an ugly word," Vlad reached down and rest a hand on Danny's head for a few moments, "But yes!"

There was a cold patch on Danny's other side, and a quick glance to his side confirmed that it was a mostly-invisible Prince beside him. "He scares me," Prince whispered.

"Is it the football obsession?" Danny mumbled back, attempting to look natural when Vlad sent a curious look his way.

"I don't understand," Thankfully, Jazz provided a distraction. "You're a multi-_billionaire_. Instead of buying all this stuff, why don't you just buy the team?"

Vlad looked shocked for a second before replying, seeming to get angrier with every word. "Because the Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay and they won't sell them to me!" He glanced over at Maddie, who was giving him a confused look. "One of two things," He said, chuckling as he straightened up, "My wealth has not yet been able to acquire."

Maddie took a step back and gave a weak smile. "I'd, uh, better let Jack in."

Danny moved closer to his sister, "Was he hitting on Mom?"

Jazz shrugged, "As long as he has working toilets and Mom says no, who cares?"

"Creepy," Prince whispered, "Creepy-creepy."

"Okay?" Danny moved towards the cases, ignoring the other curious look Vlad sent his way. Instead he focused on a football on a little stand with someone's name written across it. "Cool!"

"Indeed," Vlad said, picking up the football and holding it close to his face. "This ball was autographed by the legendary Ray Nitschke himself. It's my prized possession."

"Heads up, V-man!" Jack shouted, and Danny pulled Prince out of the way as his dad tackled the billionaire. "Hah, I see you've still got the old moves!"

"Get off of me!" Vlad kicked Jack away, and Danny took several awkward steps back as the billionaire stormed over to the stand and put the football gently back. He turned on Jack, and Danny moved to hide behind his sister. "I never _had_ any old moves! All those years in the hospital robbed me of that!"

Danny and Jazz exchanged a look before moving closer to their mother.

Vlad took a deep breath, composing himself. "Yes, well, it gave me time to chart out a course for my life, didn't it? Make some decisions that helped to make me very wealthy, very quickly. And it never would have happened without you, Jack."

"Yeah..." Maddie trailed off, looking at her children who had taken to hiding behind her. "This was a bad idea. I'm really sorry, Vlad, but maybe we should go."

"I'm game," Prince said, "Let's leave."

"No, no, you should stay with me!" Vlad approached the family, a huge smile on his face. "That's the whole reason I'm throwing the reunion here at my home! Just so I could _reconnect_ with you, Jack. Oh, and Maddie, of course." He threw an arm over the taller man's shoulders, "I insist you stay!"

Maddie and Jack exchanged a look. "Of course, Vladdie!" Jack pulled him into another hug, "Sorry about that, I didn't get much sleep last night."

"It's fine," Vlad didn't sound fine, and Danny was amazed at how easily he pulled away. "I was up rather late last night as well."

"Hah! Just like in college!"

"Yes. Well, as long as you don't dump spoiled milk into our new one again, we should be fine."

"I want to leave," Prince whispered, "Why can't we leave? He's scaring me."

"Uh..." Danny faked a yawn, "Well, this is nice and all, but if we're going to be staying here do I have a room? Because sleep is good."

"You're the only one of us who actually got a full night's sleep," Jazz said.

"Yeah, you'd think that, but no."

"I've set aside four rooms," Vlad said, "You can use them however you'd like. Would you like me to show you to them, get you settled in?"

"I'll get the bags!" Jack called, and rushed out the door.

Ten minutes later, Danny flopped onto his ridiculously soft bed beside the now visible Prince. "So, what's up?"

"The bed's canopy," Prince said, pointing towards it.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"He scares me," Prince muttered, "I don't know why but he's just... ew." He wrinkled his nose. "He's an ew person."

"Maybe rich and powerful people make you uncomfortable," Danny suggested, "That could be why you also dislike Paulina."

"That's not the reason." Prince said, "That's a dumb reason."

"Hey, I'm trying." Danny sat up, "I'm going to go look around. Are you going to stay here?"

Prince shrugged, sitting up and hugging his knees close. "Do you have to go?"

"Hey, I helped you get away from the guy, now I'm going to do something for me." He stood up, "I'll be back in a couple hours or so. You can amuse yourself, can't you?" He didn't wait for an answer and crossed the room as quickly as he could. The door clicked shut behind him.

Twenty minutes later, Danny had his face pressed against a glass door. "Oh, _no way."_

Surrounded by windows and with a _fantastic _view of the garden outside was an Olympic-sized indoor pool.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Tardis moved quickly through her room and pulled out a wooden crate. She threw several of its contents aside before she reached what she was looking for - a cell phone.

She frowned, tossing it from hand to hand. Would it even work? She'd had it for years, and for most of them it'd been buried under her assorted trinkets. Tardis stared at it a moment longer before she shrugged and looked at the piece of paper glued to its backside. It couldn't hurt to try, after all. Tardis dialed the number slowly, taking her time to match the numbers written down which their appropriate button.

It rang three times, and then, "Jake's funeral home, you stab 'em we slab 'em."

_Oh, thank god, that was his number._ Tardis dropped her voice slightly, "Where the hell are you?"

She could almost hear him wince, "Tardis...?"

"Who else would it be, you fuck?"

"Well I actually thought it was Isaac - never mind. Little shit was supposed to be here an hour ago," Infinite - though, he wasn't Infinite right now - let out an awkward cough. "I didn't know you had a phone."

"And yet you gave me your number."

"Okay, for you that was like, over a thou- it was a really long time ago so shush." He hesitated, "Look, I'm kind of in the middle of something, can this wait?"

"Oh?" She said as pleasantly as she could manage considering the current circumstances, "What is it?"

"First of all, never talk like that again. You sound like you're going to murder me." He took a breath, "Secondly, I'm painting an apartment. This thing hasn't been inhabited for like, a month. And it smells weird."

"That's just the paint," A female voice said from the background of Infinite's call.

"Our paint smells like death, Sam," Infinite replied before directing his attention back to the call. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Yes, I was," Tardis sat down, "And why are you doing that?"

"Uh, because it's ugly? And the guy we're gonna be renting from didn't want to do it? Ah Elmerton, how is this town not actually falling apart right now?"

"And you didn't have anything else going on today?" Tardis asked, "Anything at all?"

On the other end of the phone, Infinite laughed nervously. "Yeah... that..."

"You made Time Turner go set it up and now you're not even here for it," She said, "Do you have any idea how much you're stressing him out? Get your ass here, _now_."

Infinite groaned, and in the background she could hear three different voices ask if he was okay. A moment later, a door clicked shut. "And if I refuse?"

Tardis ran over several of her more serious threats before realizing that Infinite was well aware she wouldn't act on any of them. "Then you'll have to deal with the guilt of disappointing him."

"Wow, how tragic." He scoffed, "Look, I don't want to go. I don't want anything to do with Stopwatch."

Ah, there it was. "So you're going to run away from all this because he stabbed you?"

"Yep. Watch me."

For a moment, Tardis wondered why her younger self had ever liked how stubborn Infinite could be. "Fine. Then I'm not paying you."

"Not an issue; Vlad's basically been throwing money at me so I'll like him. Imagine how happy he'll be if I actually accept it."

Tardis' face twisted as she tried to keep from verbally expressing her disgust. It didn't matter what Timeline she was dealing with; that man was disgusting. Why Infinite had decided to make nice with his version was beyond her. "Fine, I won't do that. But you still need to get here."

"Actually, I need to keep painting my apartment. My friends are waiting for me so yeah, I have to go."

"I will come there," Tardis said quickly, "And I'll tell them everything."

"Well, see you then. But for the record, they still hate you." He hung up. Tardis gripped the phone tighter before she whipped it across the room, watching as it shattered across the opposite wall.

"Fuck you," She said, standing up and heading towards her half open door. She knocked it open with her foot and stepped out into the hallway. "Fucking piece of shit-"

"That's nasty."

She turned to her right, staring at Infinite as he leaned against the wall. He was playing with the medallion around his neck, but something seemed off. Tardis couldn't place it.

Infinite gave an awkward smile as he noticed her stare. "I uh, got guilt tripped."

Tardis didn't know what to say. "They already left," She said, "You know where the meeting place is?" Infinite nodded. Tardis copied him for a second before stepping back into her room.

_That was weird,_ she thought, staring at the hall. _He didn't even have the bandage on his arm._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Two days," Vlad said, pacing in front of his desk. "Who in their right mind arrives for a function, which will only last a few hours, two days early?!" He stopped mid-step as it occurred to him that he was talking to himself.

Still, it was clear to Vlad that his anger was justified. As it always was, of course; he wasn't one to get irrationally angry at someone. But who in their right mind would show up so early without as much as a phone call? They were very, _very_ lucky he'd taken care to prepare those rooms ahead of time. They were very lucky he'd had the news playing in the background as he attempted to stay awake long enough to finish looking over Vladco's marketing budget. They were very lucky he'd seen the report on a dangerous driver, less than an hour away from his house. They'd been lucky he'd had enough time to prepare himself before they arrived. They were very, _very_ lucky that he'd been alone when they chose to arrive the way they did.

But that was always it, wasn't it? They were always so _lucky._ Jack had been lucky to just barely make it into university, Maddie had been lucky enough to convince the professor to let them make their disastrous portal, Harri had been so lucky to find a paid internship away from them, and he'd been _lucky_ enough to stand in just the right position for the Proto-Portal to hit him in the face.

There was no doubt in Vlad's mind that his anger was justified. It always was, of course. Anyone who said otherwise was wrong.

Vlad rubbed his temples, frowning as he felt the concealer crumble under his fingers. He'd barely had time to apply it before he'd caught sight of that god-awful RV approaching. He'd have to reapply it now, which would take time that he did not have to spare.

A knock on the door turned his attention back to the room, and Vlad grabbed some papers from his desk. "Yes?" He said, and as he had predicted would happen, the door opened.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Jasmine said, "But have you seen Danny? He's not in his room."

Vlad strongly considered replying that he didn't possess the ability to see through walls, but years in business forced him to hold the comment in. "No," He said plainly, feigning extreme interest in the report about Mastersoft's stocks. It occurred to Vlad that he should probably organize his desk.

"Oh," Jasmine paused, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Would you mind helping me look for him? I understand, you're busy, and I'm sorry, but I need to be certain he's okay."

Well, that seemed a tad ominous. In Vlad's mind, it made more sense for her to be wary of the trouble a fourteen-year-old boy could cause in his mansion. There were no true dangers he could access unless he possessed the ability to walk through walls. Still, if Jasmine was anything like her mother, she likely wouldn't leave him alone unless he agreed. "I suppose I can spare a few minutes," He said, walking towards her. "I'll be looking around the main floor, while you contain your search to this one. However," He fixed his gaze on her, "I'm sure he's fine, Jasmine."

"I know," She said, taking a breath in. "Thank you, Mr. Masters. I know you think I'm overreacting, but thank you for agreeing anyway." Jasmine rushed back down the hallway, and Vlad watched her go. That had been an unexpectedly pleasant interaction, and the girl was at least to some degree observant. She was certainly her mother's daughter.

He dismissed that thought and started down the stairs. The kitchen was his first stop- he was attempting to find a teenage boy related to _Jack,_ after all. Vlad was honestly surprised when he didn't find Maddie's son raiding his fridge or attempting to make himself a sandwich. He was rather thankful for that; Vlad doubted that Jack's son would have the foresight to wash the resulting dishes, much less dry and put them away.

He wasn't in the bathroom, or watching anything on the TV. Vlad was grumbling to himself about how this search was even more tedious than the paperwork he was supposed to be doing when he felt an unfortunately familiar mental tug.

Much more attentive than he had been a second before, Vlad moved quickly down the hallway. He stopped upon reaching the glass wall which surrounded his 'pool,' leaning forward to look through it. There was someone dressed in black and white attempting to hide behind a chair. He could hear faint words and laughter, but wasn't sure if they came from the being. Not that it mattered now; whatever it was, it was intruding.

Vlad didn't bother opening a door, and simply moved through the wall. The moment he entered the black and white being disappeared, as did the voice. Vlad moved towards the chair, finding some clothes and a bandage with dried blood resting on it. He narrowed his eyes and turned slightly, looking at the small teenager treading water in the pool.

"Hi," Daniel said, one hand moving to the back of his neck. "I, uh, I'm going to live in this pool now."

Vlad strongly considered telling the boy all about the experiments he had run in that pool, but decided against it. It would do his plans no good to have Maddie learn of them just yet. "Get out of there." Daniel pulled almost the exact same pout Jack used to when they ran out of fudge. Vlad looked away, to the bloody bandage resting on the chair. He frowned, and looked back at the sulking child. "Were you injured?"

"I'm fine," Daniel grumbled, hand dropping back down and splashing into the water. "It happened before we came here."

Vlad raised a curious eyebrow, but didn't press. In the end, he had much more important things to worry about. "I was serious, Daniel; get out, and get dressed. Your sister is looking for you."

"Oh," Maddie's son moved to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out. T-shirt, shorts, and hair dripping as he went, the teenager gathered up his clothes and moved to a nearby bathroom to get changed. At least he had the grace to look ashamed for worrying his sister as he did so. Jack certainly wouldn't have done the same.

Vlad dismissed the parallels his mind kept drawing between Jack and his son, not liking where that train of thought would surely lead him.

Something on the chair caught a ray of light, and Vlad reached down for it. It seemed to be a small, cylindrical whistle on a chain. It didn't appear supernatural, but Vlad could feel it trying faintly to push away from him. Perhaps ectoranium dust had been melted into the metal? Why in the world would someone do that?

Vlad lifted it up by the chain, examining the whistle. He produced a smartphone from his pocket and took a picture. He'd have to look into it when he had the time.

"Hey!" Daniel rushed forwards, nearly crashing into Vlad. "That's mine!"

"Is it now?" Vlad handed it back to the boy, watching the visible relief on his face. "Where did you find something like that?"

"Flea market," He said, putting it back around his neck and hiding it under his shirt.

"Hm," So much for tracking its origin that way. Oh well, it couldn't be that important. "Come along, then. The sooner your sister knows where you are, the sooner I can get back to my work."

"That's it?" Daniel matched his pace, "You... don't want to know anything else about it?"

Ah, so there _was_ something special about that whistle. "Unless you feel like telling me it, no. To be frank, Daniel, I don't particularly care about your trinkets."

There was a slight hesitation before Daniel said, "How can you be Frank if you're Vlad?"

Vlad turned slowly, looking down at the teenager beside him and the ridiculous grin across his face. "I see you have your father's sense of humor." Vlad straightened up and started walking at a quicker pace.

"Nah, I make a lot more puns than my dad does." He was nearly jogging to keep up with Vlad now, which thankfully made it difficult for him to talk.

It was as he approached the dining area that Vlad became aware of someone on the other side of the wall. He held out a hand, motioning for the boy to stop. "Stay there," He said quickly, and moved carefully through the dining area and into the kitchen.

Maddie, Jasmine, and Jack were all attempting to cook what appeared to be pancakes. Flour seemed to have coated every inch of the counter, and bits of batter had worked their way into Jasmine's hair. The three Fenton's turned towards Vlad, and he smelt smoke. One word was all he could manage as he took in the disaster around him. _"Why?"_

"We wanted to make sure you had breakfast!" Jack said, motioning to the burning pancakes that Maddie was attempting to flip. "You didn't have any of the box stuff, so Jazzy-pants here-"

"I was forced to help them," Maddie's daughter said. "Don't worry; they _will_ clean it up."

There was a low whistle as the youngest Fenton, unfortunately, joined them. "Wow. Can I eat those?"

"Danny!" Jasmine rushed past Vlad, who put his hand in a pile of flour as he stepped to the side. "You're wet!"

Daniel grinned as he addressed his parents. "Mom, Dad, Vlad's going to adopt me so that I can live in his pool every day for the rest of my life."

Vlad raised an eyebrow, turning towards Maddie and Jack. "I assure you, I never agreed to that."

After what was far too polite to be considered an argument- Vlad had spent far too long planning this to let his temper get the better of him now- Vlad found himself sitting at a table awkwardly and across from the undisputable proof that Jack and Maddie had-

He pushed that thought as far away as he could with a visible shudder. The teenagers exchanged a look, and Jasmine awkwardly asked, "Cold?"

"You could say that," Vlad replied, having absolutely no desire to partake in small talk. And she was right; for whatever reason, the room seemed to have an odd chill.

From the other side of the table, Vlad barely caught a few words. "He's just upset 'cause his cold, cold heart is leaking."

It was obviously an insult. A poorly constructed one, but an insult nonetheless. Vlad sent a cold look in Jack's son's direction, though it quickly disappeared when he noticed the look on Daniel's face.

"Prince, no," He muttered, covering his mouth with his hand and attracting a curious look from his sister, "Shush."

"Did you say something, Danny?" Jasmine asked.

"No," Daniel said quickly, "Just clearing my throat."

Vlad sat up a little straighter, _liar._ He added the name Prince to his list of strange things about Jack's child.

"Soup's on!" Jack's ridiculously loud voice broke through the tense situation as he slid a plate towards Vlad. On it were three pancakes which were so undercooked that they might as well have been soup. Part of Vlad's mind suggested that he be thankful for what he had; across from him, Jasmine was pushing one of her heavily charred ones onto her brother's plate.

"So, Vladdie," Jack asked, tossing his son a bottle of syrup he'd pulled from somewhere. Daniel drowned his pancakes in it as Jack continued. "Got any lady friends?" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Vlad barely resisted the urge to strangle him.

"Whoever says 'lady friends'?" He asked instead, attempting to put a bit of his pancake on the fork. They weren't cooked enough to stay in place. "And no."

"Anyone you're interested in?" Vlad leaned away to avoid being nudged with Jack's oversized elbow.

He looked directly at Maddie, who was watching her daughter cut her pancake into small pieces. "No."

"Still horrible at small talk, aren't ya?"

Vlad spun the fork around, the ever _helpful_ part of his mind suggesting that he pretend the 'breakfast' were Jack's organs. Frowning as he realized exactly how much that made him seem like a serial killer, Vlad stood. "Yes," He said quickly, "I have work to do, so if you'll excuse me." He left before anyone could argue- though Jack was certainly about to try- and disposed of _everything_ the second he was out of view.

Dusting a bit of flour off of one hand, Vlad moved back up the stairs. No matter how tedious, his paperwork was definitely better than that_._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch stared at the cards in his hand and after a moment, pulled out two sevens. "Two kings."

"Cheat," Hourglass said quietly, and Stopwatch dropped his cards.

"I hate this game!" He announced, kicking the pile of cards away and crossing his arms.

Tempest, who was sitting across from them, raised an eyebrow and watched Stopwatch's fit over the cards in her hands. "How the hell are you that good at reading poker faces? This is bullshit. I fold."

Time Turner looked over at the group stepping away from his friend Ghostwriter and Gabriella, whom Stopwatch had dubbed the Laser Tag Ghost. "Are you gambling without me?" He took another couple steps towards them before Ghostwriter calmly reached out and grabbed him.

"No," He said, pulling Time Turner back to his conversation. "None of you are even old enough to do that."

"Really?" Tempest said, dropping her cards. "Want to bet?"

"Absolutely not," Ghostwriter turned towards them, "What even are you playing?"

"It was supposed to be cheat," Hourglass said softly, holding her own cards close. "It was supposed to be fun. I'm sorry."

Stopwatch frowned and picked his cards back up. "We can play war, since I think Tempest is done with card games now."

"I'm done with life," Tempest said.

"That usually comes with being a ghost," The Laser Tag Ghost replied.

"Actually," Stopwatch and Hourglass turned back to see Infinite perched on a rock behind them, coffee cup in hand and wearing the _ugliest_ sweater Stopwatch had ever seen. "One could argue that becoming a ghost is merely an extension of life. We can still eat, sleep, and we still do an ectoplasmic exchange which could be argued to be our version of breathing. We can, of course, converse with each other and think. One could think of this as merely the second stage of life, which lasts until we reach our official demise; our death, if you will."

"That makes sense," Hourglass said.

Tempest scoffed, "How?"

Infinite shrugged, "Who knows, my brain's almost filled with paint fumes." He hopped off the rock, "So, are we doing the thing?"

Time Turner sounded annoyed, "When did you get here?"

"Uh," Infinite rolled back a sleeve, making a motion like he was looking at a watch- except he wasn't wearing one. "Recently."

Time Turner was sighing as Stopwatch and Hourglass stood up. "Gabriella, this is Infinite. Infinite, Gabriella."

"Oh, hey," He walked past Stopwatch, not even given the other ghost a passing glance. He stopped right in front of the Laser Tag Ghost, holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you. Sorry I'm late, but there was a _lot_ of traffic."

"Traffic," Ghostwriter repeated, staring at Infinite's ugly sweater.

"Yep," Infinite made a wild motion with his arms, shoving a bright orange sleeve in Ghostwriter's face. Time Turner looked alarmed as he pulled his friend back.

"Okay, so um- time to set up the teams!" Time Turner said awkwardly, stepping between the two. "Infinite, Stopwatch, Hourglass- you guys can be one team, and we'll all be the other? Okay? Okay."

Hourglass clapped her hands twice and rushed over to drag Infinite to her side. Stopwatch didn't move, watching him carefully. Infinite didn't even seem to notice him.

"Hey, Time Turner," Tempest said, nudging him with her elbow. "You know what laser tag reminds me of? Especially doing it with a bunch of Timey ghosts?"

Time Turner glanced over at her, "If you reference that damn cartoon I'm kicking you off my team."

"Taking part in the final round of Globnar for a Time Wish."

Time Turner pointed to the other side, and Tempest calmly crossed over to them. Infinite watched her, one eyebrow raised as she came to stand beside him. "I have absolutely no idea what just happened."

"I'm on your team now," Tempest said, attempting to use his shoulder as an armrest despite the fact she was at least a foot shorter than him. "Get used to it."

The Laser Tag Ghost cleared her throat, stepping in between the two sides. "Before we start, I'd appreciate it if you could all line up. Feel free to name your teams while I go over the rules for anyone who doesn't know."

Time Turner grinned, "We're Team Andrew is the Name of Every Nerd Ever."

Ghostwriter looked over at him, "Why would you do this to me?"

Infinite crossed his arms. "We're Team Batali Mi."

Stopwatch frowned, raising his eyebrows. "What the hell kind of name is that?"

"It's Esperanto," Tempest said, still awkwardly leaning on Infinite, "It means fight me."

"Why is our team name in another language?"

"Because fuck you, that's why."

"Tempest!" Hourglass hissed, "Be nice!"

"If you're done," Gabriella said, and threw a hand in the air. A tendril of ectoplasm shot towards the group of four, wrapping around their wrists. Stopwatch was just about to attack with full force when the ectoplasm pulled back, leaving two green circles on the back of his hands. "The right side represents your shield strength, or how many shots you can take. They won't hurt you, of course, but they may affect your chances of winning. If that circle fills up with green, then your shields have failed and you will be teleported back to your team's home base. You will have to wait for one minute for it to recharge." She repeated the procedure to link the other team together. "The left side is how many shots you have left before you'll need to reload. If it empties, you will have to take thirty seconds to reload. During this time you can't move, or you won't regain any shots. When that circle is empty you won't be able to fire any ectoplasm. Like I said before, you won't be able to hurt anyone in this game." She looked directly at Infinite, "It also prevents elemental attacks. Does everyone follow?"

_No,_ Stopwatch thought, as the others responded with a chorus of "Yes."

"Good. Now, the arena will change with each round. Does anyone have any suggestions for what our first game will be?"

There was a moment of silence before Infinite cleared his throat and awkwardly suggested, "Capture the flag?" A moment later, a large piece of yellow fabric fell on his head. Across from them, Ghostwriter had draped a bright blue one over Time Turner.

"Excellent!" The Laser Tag Ghost clapped her hands, "Everyone ready?" Stopwatch didn't voice his 'not remotely.' "Then let's do this!"

Stopwatch felt his core twist, and a second later he landed awkwardly in what seemed to be a foggy forest. "Ow."

"Huh, ghost laser tag somehow managed to make everything weird. Neato. So I guess this is our home base then?" Infinite spun around and crossed his arms. "Nice. What's the plan?"

"Give me that," Tempest said, grabbing the flag and pulling Stopwatch up. She rolled it up and tied it in an uncomfortable knot around Stopwatch's arm. "Problem solved. Don't let anyone touch you."

"I don't think it's supposed to be on a person," Hourglass said quietly, "That doesn't seem very fair."

"Sucks to be them, then." Tempest moved closer to Infinite, who was making faces at the circles on his hands. "Besides, I know Time Turner. Little asshole's trying to give himself an edge- that's why he put Gabriella on his team. We're not cheating any more than he is."

"But I don't want to cheat," Hourglass muttered, wringing her hands together. "I don't like it."

"Well, it _extra_ sucks to be you then." She pointed forwards, "I didn't come here to make friends; I came here to win. Now get into position."

Infinite raised an eyebrow, "What positions? Do we even have a plan?"

"Besides making Hourglass feel bad?" Stopwatch asked, moving closer to his friend.

"So, no then. Right. Plan, plan... um... we don't die?" Infinite suggested awkwardly, "That seems like a good plan."

"That's not a plan," Stopwatch said.

Tempest grinned. "I happen to think it's a lovely plan."

"Cool," Stopwatch crossed his arms, "Because you're wrong and I think it's bullshit."

"Well it's a good thing that nobody cares what you thi-" She was cut off when a loud _bang_ ripped through the air. Stopwatch jumped and saw Hourglass latch onto Infinite's arm.

A wave of cursive writing covered the sky, and Stopwatch made a face. "What language is that?"

"Handwriting," Infinite squinted, "Kind of messy, too. Uh... I think it says _game on." _He pulled his arm away from Hourglass, "Okay, I guess that means the game's started. Cool."

"Really?" Tempest said in her typical deadpan, "I thought it wanted us to all run around flailing like idiots."

"Hm, nah. Not without fitting theme music," Infinite replied. He looked around, obviously confused. "So, what, do we just start playing?"

Something shifted behind Stopwatch, and he spun around as he felt something near his arm. Time Turner's friend had grabbed onto the flag wrapped around Stopwatch's arm.

"Holy shit!" He aimed his elbow up, whacking Ghostwriter on his chin. He moved back, glasses crooked and hanging half off his face. But he still had the flag in his hand.

The forest disappeared, and both teams found themselves back on the original island. Gabriella was looking around in surprise, and Time Turner looked rather nervous.

"Oh, that was _not_ fair," Infinite said, moving past Stopwatch. "How the hell did you do that?!"

"You guys must have just gotten unlucky!" Time Turner said a little too quickly.

"Or," Ghostwriter said, twisting the flag, "I just happened to get incredibly lucky."

Infinite crossed his arms, "You fucking cheater."

Gabriella glared at him, "I would appreciate it if you didn't swear."

"I didn't cheat," Ghostwriter replied calmly, "I used the circumstances I was presented with to create an advantage."

"So you cheated and now you're being smug about it?" Stopwatch took a couple steps away from the fight, which from Infinite's tone was probably going to get violent soon. "You stole our flag and the game automatically ended. That's absolute _bullshit!_"

"That is enough," Gabriella crossed the area, stepping between them. "I'm not going to tolerate any cheating. This goes for all of you." She looked over at Tempest, "The game is supposed to be fun, and I will not tolerate any sort of disrespect. This is your only warning."

Infinite dropped his voice as soon as she stepped away from them, speaking so quietly that Stopwatch could barely hear. "Are you being a jerk because you don't like my shirt or something?"

"How petty do you think I am?"

"Pretty petty. It's orange, don't you hate that?"

"I have nothing against your sweater. It's the rest of you I have a problem with."

Stopwatch looked to the left, where Hourglass had taken it upon herself to distract Gabriella with a conversation about the exact rules. Time Turner was staring at the quietly continuing argument, obviously annoyed.

"Really? Because, y'know, nothing rhymes with orange-"

Ghostwriter took a step forwards. "You think whether or not something _rhymes_ would bother me?"

Infinite leaned away, "Um... I, uh-"

"Let me make myself clear, _Infinite Hour,_ I know exactly who you are and what you've done. I don't like you very much. And if you even think for a second that you can get away with acting like _this_ when I'm around then you are wrong. Be on your best behaviour, and if you put Tyler in any sort of danger I'm going to stab you. Repeatedly. Do you understand, or should I use simpler words?"

"Okay!" Time Turner quickly said, slipping between the two and grabbing Ghostwriter's jacket sleeve. "Team meeting, come on!" He quickly pulled the other ghost away.

"Infinite!" Hourglass said, moving to Stopwatch's side, "We're going to do a rematch! Gabby - she said I could call her Gabby - said that uh, uh..." She trailed off, licking her lips. "She thinks we just got unlucky and had our base too close to theirs. Or there was a penalty for physical attacks in place, maybe." She dropped her voice down to a whisper, "I hate words."

"You tried," Stopwatch smiled, patting her on the arm.

Infinite spun around and gave a short nod. "Right," He said, "Team Batali Mi is gonna fight. No more losing. We can do this, we just-"

"Don't," Stopwatch said, "Don't start doing that. I will pay you not to attempt some stupidly dramatic motivational speech."

Hourglass pulled her arm away, "Stopwatch!"

"Okay!" Time Turner called, "Everybody ready? No? Well too bad let's start anyway!"

A second later, Stopwatch found himself standing knee-deep in a muddy river and officially decided that he hated laser tag.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny sat cross-legged on his bed, spinning his laptop around to show his room. "Behold; rich people land. Also Prince, in a chair and giving himself ink poisoning."

Prince stuck out his tongue and went back to drawing on himself.

"Dude," Tucker said from the other end of the call, _"Dude._ It's so fancy. How rich is this guy?"

"Uh, a multi-billionaire I think." Danny turned his laptop back around, "I don't actually know. Google it."

"Done and- _holy shit._" Tucker leaned away from his computer, "He makes like, twenty thousand dollars every minute."

Danny leaned back, a hand over his mouth. "Wow. What do you think are the chances I can get him to pay for my college?"

"Dude, screw your college," Tucker said, "Get him to pay for mine."

"Excuse you," Danny shifted, moving the computer off of his lap, "He's _my_ almost uncle. He's paying for my college."

Tucker stuck out his tongue and typed something into his computer. "Fine, then I'm going to get... Jeremy Manson, who makes twenty-two thousand dollars every minute to be my sugar daddy."

"Dude, no- wait, Manson?" Danny frowned, "Isn't that Sam's last name?" He didn't notice how Prince tried to make himself smaller as soon as Sam was mentioned.

"Dude," Tucker said, "If Sam was rich do you really think she'd be hanging out with us?"

"True," Danny shrugged, "If Iwas rich I wouldn't be hanging out with you."

Despite the fact Danny hadn't really been serious, Tucker looked genuinely hurt by that. Before he could make an effort to apologize, however, their call was joined by a third member.

"I am going to _murder_ my cousins," Sam snapped, her hair in a ragged mess. There seemed to be someone screaming in the background.

"Hi Sam," Danny said, "I'm in rich people land."

Sam frowned, "I thought you were supposed to be on a dramatic road trip with your parents?"

Danny shrugged, "Prince did a thing and we got here early."

"I did _nothing,_" Prince muttered, "Stop blaming me."

"Fine," Danny rolled his eyes, turning to Prince while Sam watched him curiously. "You _didn't_ do anything, despite the proof that you did."

"Oh?" Prince crossed his arms, "What proof?"

"You mean besides the ice coated bathroom and birds trying to murder you? Well..."

"Do we need to give you two some privacy?" Tucker asked, and Danny quickly turned back to his computer.

"No, sorry. Back to..." He made a face, "We are _not_ going back to the sugar daddy conversation."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Do I want to know?"

"Well," Tucker said, "Vlad Masters is going to be Danny's sugar daddy-"

"Tucker, I am literally going to punch you."

"-And Jeremy Manson is going to be mine!" Tucker continued as if Danny hadn't spoken. "That's how we'll get through college!"

Sam stared at them, her eyebrow moving higher. "Remind me to never leave you two alone again."

"What's a sugar daddy?" Prince asked, "My dad didn't like sugar, but my mom did. Does that make her my sugar mommy?"

Tucker and Sam were snickering as Danny covered his face with his hands. "Nobody tell him," He said, and his friends laughed louder. "We must preserve his innocence!"

Prince made an annoyed noise, floating over to Danny's side and poking his cheek with a pen. "Danny! Tell me things!"

Danny replied by very maturely poking Prince back. "Nah."

"Adorable," Sam said, breaking up their poke war. "Hey, do you guys want to see the flowers my aunt brought me?"

"Uh, Sam, none of us really care about plants..." Tucker trailed off as Sam slid to the side, not really listening and obviously eager to show off her flowers. She ducked back into the frame, holding a picture in front of her computer's camera. It took a second before Danny could make out triangular, crystal blue petals and a pale green stem.

"This is a mortuus caelum, or the hidden spirit flower!" Sam said, smiling as she pulled the photo back. "They only grow in West Africa, but they're so cool! And these ones," She held a picture of what looked like a bunch of dark red dandelions growing from one stem, "These ones are called night marbles!"

"Night marbles?" Tucker asked, "Who names these plants?"

"And why are you still showing us them?" Prince grumbled.

Danny glared at the both of them. If Sam could listen to Danny and Tucker talk about Doomed, then they could listen to her talk about plants. "Go on, Sam," He said, _"I'm_ listening."

Sam smiled and grabbed another picture. Danny looked over the thorny rose with a dark purple stem, nodding as if he understood. He missed how Prince pulled away as soon as he saw the flower. "These are called blood blossoms, and they're super endangered. I've heard that their petals are really tasty- though, calling them petals is wrong, since blood blossoms are actually a fungus. There's an old wives tale that they only grow on graves."

"Neat," Tucker said in the most uninterested voice he could manage.

"It's kind of neat," Danny said, "The names are weird, though. Hidden spirit flower, night marbles, blood blossoms... who names these things and how'd your aunt get them?"

Sam made a spooky motion with her fingers. _"Magic._ She actually refused to tell me." There was a loud knocking on her side of the call. "Ugh, hold on, I've got a child I need to punch." She muted her end and moved out of frame.

"Is it over?" Tucker asked, "Am I free from the plants?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "She can probably still hear us, you know."

A second later, a small blond boy appeared on screen. He waved at them, and Danny awkwardly waved back.

"This is worse than the flowers," Tucker said, "Now we're meeting her family!"

"The friendship pact has been sealed," Danny added on in a dramatic voice. The kid on the other end seemed to laugh and unmuted the call.

"Hi!" He shouted. Danny and Tucker exchanged an awkward look, and Danny looked over his shoulder to make sure Prince wasn't in view. The ghost wasn't even in his room. "I'm Albert! I'm seven! Are you guys dating my cousin?"

"Maybe," Tucker replied, wiggling his eyebrows.

Danny moved the laptop to the side and muted his end of the call. "Prince?" He couldn't see any trace of the ghost. "Where'd you go?" He ignored the sound of Sam yelling at her cousin, and Tucker laughing at them. "Prince!"

He had no idea when the ghost had left, or why. Hesitantly Danny sat back down and shot an anxious glance towards the door. Prince was fine; the vultures had been dealt with. There was nothing here that could hurt him. Prince was _fine._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Prince Phantom was not fine.

_Sam Manson_ was enough of a threat already, and now she had at least one blood blossom. If the angry rants he could recall his parents going on were true, then one easily led to more. He was at more of a risk now than he'd been when _They_ had first forced him into their care- and that was saying a lot. This needed to be dealt with and fast. Like, three-hours-ago fast.

Unfortunately, Prince had no idea how he was supposed to do so. His sister would've been able to come up with something; she always had a plan. Their dad had had a hell of a time trying to keep up with them.

Prince shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. Today was definitely a bad day, then; on bad days it hurt to even think about his family. For now, he needed a distraction.

The book Danny had given him yesterday had been really interesting, but it was still in his room, so reading it again was out of the question. He didn't want to risk giving Sam any ideas of what her new plants could do, since they'd probably be used against him. He wasn't looking forward to that.

And so Prince found himself sitting on the roof, trying to keep his mind occupied by drawing on his arm. His left hand and arm were covered in blue ink, and Prince was tempted to wash it all off and start over again. He didn't know why being upset always led to him drawing on himself. He never used to do that, not before Them.

Prince bit down on his lip, hard enough to taste ectoplasm. He _really_ needed a better distraction, otherwise he'd slip up and let Danny know how he was feeling. Sam hadn't mentioned it when outlining the things she'd forbidden him from doing to Danny, but that was probably because she didn't know. Prince wasn't even sure if Danny knew about the emotion-sharing thing. He certainly made no effort to shield his. But whatever the reason, Prince had decided that he had to be careful. He didn't want to risk the possibility of going back to Them.

Something buzzed behind him, and Prince sent a confused look over his shoulder. The air was twisting, and he quickly moved away as a ghost teleported onto the scene. Despite the fact the ghost wasn't facing him, Prince knew his cover was blown. They were going to have to fight, and if the residual ectoplasm from the teleportation was to be believed this ghost was _extremely_ powerful. He'd need to grab Danny if he even hoped to put a dent in their- _his? -_ defenses.

"I'm not sure if you're aware," The ghost said, "But this is private property."

Prince moved back, looking away and trying to be respectful as he stuck the pen behind his ear. _I knew there was something wrong with this place._ "I apologize. I'm leashed to an object within, and I can't leave until that's worn off." Well, it wasn't a lie. He was leashed to Danny.

The ghost turned and stared at him. "And you expect me to believe that?"

Prince looked up quickly and moved back, warning bells going off at his tone. "I..." His voice failed him. Prince was tempted to lower his barriers and try to mooch off of Danny's false confidence, but that might raise questions. Questions which would lead to them both getting hurt. "Yes, I do."

The ghost moved forwards, causing Prince to float even farther back. He really wasn't up for fighting someone right now.

"You look familiar," The ghost said, looking over Prince. "What's your name?"

_Nope. Not doing this. Definitely nope._ If he told the ghost his name then he'd have control, and that would be _bad._ Sam had abused the control, _They_ had abused the control, and Prince had no doubt the ghost in front of him would abuse it too. And Prince was sick of people controlling him. "I don't have one," He lied, "I'm nameless."

A scoff. Prince was almost offended; he wasn't _that_ bad at lying. "I have several doubts about that. White hair, reasonably pale skin, a black and white colour scheme- you're him, aren't you? You're that traitor called Dark." The ghost moved back, "So Warrior Boy must be nearby."

Prince pulled his right fist back and punched the other ghost in his stupid, smarmy face. He took great pleasure in watching him fall. "Those are _not_ our names!" He hissed, "And don't even think about touching him!"

The ghost looked up, ectoplasm leaking from a split lip as he made eye contact with Prince. Two thoughts appeared in quick succession; _Positgen_. _Run._

Prince fell back onto the roof, both hands gripping the sides of his head as he fell. His head felt like it was going to explode, and he barely registered when Positgen stood. But he wasn't far enough out of it not to notice the ectoplasm-enhanced kick coming his way.

It was easy enough to avoid, even with a possible new power that he definitely didn't need or want. Prince simply grabbed Positgen's foot and rolled, crashing into him and taking them both through the roof.

Landing on the floor roughly jostled his core, but the sharp spikes of pain were nothing he couldn't handle. And as long as he kept his shields up, Danny wouldn't feel a thing. Probably.

Positgen stood, glaring at him. Prince shrugged, unable to resist making a comment. "I told you Dark wasn't my name." He motioned to the brand new skylight, "I'm more of a light kind of person."

Prince thought it was pretty clever. Unfortunately, Positgen seemed to disagree, and attempted to blast him. Prince sighed as he made a shield, and though the blast pushed him back it held. _At least Danny appreciates my jokes._

Prince blocked another blast, trying to find a way out of this. He could just hang out invisibly near Danny's parents for the next two days; that might be safe. Unless they found him, of course, then it'd be very, _very_ unsafe. He could also hide with Danny, but that'd put him in danger. All his options right now sucked.

Positgen shot a painting off the wall, and Prince made a face. _Nobody appreciates the arts._ He was smiling at his own bad joke when a punch from Positgen caught him off guard. The crash into the opposite wall hurt his shoulder, and for a split second his mental shields fell. Prince threw them back up, rubbing his head. _I don't want to do this anymore._

Prince felt a hand wrap around his arm and yelped as Positgen lifted him up. "I'll ask again," He said, "Why are you here?"

Prince frowned, trying to ignore his steadily worsening headache. "Um... you didn't ask that before."

Positgen frowned, and Prince could feel his hand warming up. "Don't sass me, kid."

Prince stuck out his bottom lip in a mock pout, "But it's fun!" He brought his legs up and kicked Positgen away, wrenching his arm free. He hit the wall with a sickly satisfying crunch and dust fell into the room. "Not quite as fun as that, though." _I like banter. I should do this more often. _He turned intangible and slipped through a couple floors, landing gently by what Danny had called the pool.

He wasn't sure when Positgen joined him, but he sensed something behind him. Prince moved out of the way of the sucker punch, floating just above the water. He'd been too cocky- that could have actually hurt him. He needed to get Danny before Positgen did some real damage to something besides the chair he'd somehow managed to get his foot stuck in. Prince couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous scene, bending forward with his arms wrapped around his midsection, his ribs hurting as he laughed.

That, of course, proved to be a mistake as Positgen swung his foot around and whacked Prince with the chair. He was thrown to the right, and he felt his head smash on the pool's edge.

When he opened his eyes next, everything was wrong. His clothes had a lot more weight to them, and ectoplasm from the wound on the side of his head seemed to be floating away. A shaking view of what might have been Positgen reached in and pulled Prince out by his shoulder.

Positgen's voice seemed far away as he asked a question. Prince tipped his head to the side, trying to make out the words. Positgen snapped something and threw Prince back into the water. He clung to the side, struggling to pull himself out.

He missed when tiny sparks of electricity began to jump between Positgen's fingers, but turned around in time to see him shoot a bolt into the pool. Prince flinched and threw up the strongest mental shield he had, sinking back under the water.

Prince didn't know when he started screaming, or when he stopped. But for a second, he was back in the portal as it tore him apart molecule by molecule.

* * *

Rest in pieces you trash child.

Fun fact; this chapter has been sitting around fully edited for like, three weeks. Because I suck and I was just mad at it. But so far, the next part's looking good! Well, not for Prince or Stopwatch, but everyone else is having a swell time. ;)

You know the drill; I love love, especially love for this story. Flames will still be laughed at and my friends will make plans to fight them.

Next; more Bitter Reunions. And after that? Probably more Bitter Reunions.

Let's be honest here. This story is Connections anymore; it's Bitter Reunions fun times. Badger Cereal rains from the heavens and I eat my shirt because the next chapter is too adorable.


	10. Bitter Reunions (Part 2)

Welcome to the chapter which led to my beta screaming and saying constantly "Vlad's going to help him, right?"

I just replied with a winky face. I'm a good friend.

Usual warnings, and well, onwards! ^^

* * *

**Chapter 8;**

She was late.

The Timey ghost, who'd insisted that they meet in the middle of nowhere, was late for her own meeting. It was almost ironic, and would be more so if she hadn't begged him to meet her away for prying eyes. Instead Positgen was worried. She'd sounded so upset last time they talked, and kept looking over her shoulder. Something was horribly wrong and Positgen had a sinking suspicion it was all his fault.

Something covered his eyes, and Positgen jumped. "Guess who?"

He forced himself to relax. It wasn't the Master of Time. Perhaps he really wasn't out for revenge. Positgen made sure he was speaking in Ancient Ghost, so that his companion wouldn't feel any pressure to speak in a language she struggled with. "Why are you trying to blind me, Little Miss?"

Hourglass teleported in front of him and made a disappointed fart noise with her mouth. "You're no fun." Her hood fell back and she made no move to fix it. Positgen frowned; if the Observants saw how little she cared for their rules, they'd likely both be in serious danger.

"You're looking better," He said, reaching forwards and pulling her hood back up. "You were so upset when we talked at the last meeting."

Hourglass nodded, "There's a good reason for that." She pushed her hood back down, "Positgen, you know a lot about Pariah Dark's Ghost Customs, don't you?"

"King Pariah Dark," He corrected, "And yes. I'm a Royal Sympathizer, aren't I? We follow all of King Pariah's laws. You know this, Little Miss, no matter how new you're one of us too."

Again, Hourglass nodded. "That's what I thought, but I, um, needed to be sure. And you know the laws really well, don't you? So you'd be the best person to ask about loopholes in them?"

Positgen floated back a step. "Where are you going with this?"

For a minute there was no noise but the calm buzz of the Ghost Zone, then Hourglass sighed. "The laws that the _Observants_ enforce say that unless they say otherwise, the first being to encounter a new ghost becomes their guardian. Is that actually what King Pariah's law said?"

Positgen watched her carefully. _That wording is wrong; the King's decree was that the first ghost to find one who had newly formed was to give them a name and find them a suitable guardian. But the way she's saying it... Hourglass can't be planning to go against the Observants, can she?_ "No," He replied, "The law says that upon finding a new ghost, you're supposed to find them a suitable guardian. Why?"

Hourglass wrinkled her nose, "Ugh, at least it's something. What about the ghost in their care? Their... charge, right? Is that the term? Can their charge decide where they reside?"

"Ward," Positgen corrected, "Charge was a slang term used by the Rebels. And no, not without input from the one who found them."

Hourglass threw her arms in the air, "Well that's just _stupid!_ What if someone's hurting them, huh? What if they aren't safe in their home? What are they supposed to do then? Just go and break the fucking law?! Face the wrath of the Observants and that creepy Walker guy because they wanted to _survive?!_ That's bullshit!"

Positgen moved further back, awkwardly waiting for Hourglass to finish her outburst. "That may be, but it's the law."

"Well fuck the law," She grumbled, "I wanted to avoid making them mad, but if the laws are that dumb then it looks like I'm committing high treason."

Positgen stared blankly at her. "I'm sorry, you're _what?"_

Hourglass put on an innocent face. "I said I'm going to become a professional criminal."

_This is not happening._ Positgen shook his head, swore in German, and switched to speaking in Modern Ghost. "Listen to me, Little Miss. You are _not_ going to disobey the Observants! You'll get yourself destroyed, or worse."

Hourglass didn't look too happy about the change in language, but still switched with him. She spoke quieter now, wringing her hands together. "It can't be any worse than what he's going through. I don't mind hurting if it keeps him safe."

_Him?_ Positgen shook his head again, "You can't put someone else's safety ahead of yours!"

Hourglass floated up, fists shaking at her sides as she looked down at him. "I have lots of people who'll protect me. Right now, he only has me. I'm not going to let them keep hurting him, Observants' rules be damned!"

Positgen grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. "Listen to me. If your friend is in danger, they will step in. If not, then you have nothing to worry about. You're too young to be getting involved in other people's problems, anyway."

Hourglass pulled her wrist away and stomped her foot. "I'm not a little kid! I'm _eight!_ And they aren't innocent! They're... they're bad, and cruel, and... and they have bad taste in clothes! The robes are dumb and anyone who likes them is dumb too!" To prove her point, she struggled out of the white robe she had on and threw it into the abyss below.

Again, Positgen swore. He grabbed both of Hourglass's wrists and pulled her close, staring into her eyes. Strands of hair had gotten loose from her braid, and somehow, a few of them ended up in his mouth. "Listen to me child, and listen to me closely. You are not going to throw your existence away for some... some... crush!"

She stopped trying to break away and looked up at him. Hourglass switched back to her native language, her voice dangerously calm in a way that reminded Positgen far too much of Clockwork. "I see," She said. "I am only a child. How dare I feel strongly about something due to moral ground. No, it must only be because of a girlish crush. Romantic attraction is the only reason young girls do anything, of course." She pulled her wrists free, spinning around so quickly that her braid smacked Positgen in the face. "Thank you for your input. I have enjoyed our friendship, but as you seem unable to grasp the simple concept of being a good person I believe it will be best if we part ways here."

Positgen rolled his eyes. "Being dramatic doesn't change the fact that I'm right!"

Hourglass ignored him. It occurred to Positgen that he'd probably crossed several lines by being difficult about agreeing with her. He just couldn't understand why she seemed so unable to believe the Observants weren't that bad. Then again, her worldview was twisted. She'd only seen how they interacted with Clockwork, who most certainly did not follow their rules. Of course she'd rather believe they were in the wrong than the small remainder of a family she had. If Hourglass could only see that the Observants were perfectly kind to those who followed their rules, she'd be much happier.

Positgen shook his head. He felt bad for Hourglass, and he knew that fighting with her wouldn't do either of them any good. If he could figure out more information about what she was trying to do, maybe he could stop it. "Hourglass!" He called, "You win! I'll help you!"

She didn't even bother to look over her shoulder. "I don't want your help anymore, you big jerk!"

"Aw, come on Little Miss!" He flew after her, "Don't be like that! I said I'd help you, and I will."

"After _insulting me!"_ Her voice cracked, and Positgen stopped as she did. Was it just his imagination, or was the ectoplasm around Hourglass spinning? "I have to help him, but you don't care since you're too busy listening to the _Observants._ So I'll do it myself, and don't even think about trying to stop me. I know you're planning on it."

It wasn't his imagination. The ectoplasm around her _was_ spinning. _But that would mean... no. This area is stable. It can't be a natural portal, can it?_ "Hey, uh, Little Miss-"

"Don't call me that!" She turned to face him, face wet and fists shaking. "I don't want fake names, or nicknames, or anything like that! I want them to calm down and let me use _my name!_ But you'd side with them. It doesn't matter when something's important to me, because jerks like you don't want me to have anything! I can't have friends who are happy, or- or _family,_ or-"

"That's nice," He cut her off, "But you need to move. You're not-"

"No!" She stomped her foot and the ectoplasm spun faster, "I'm not listening to you, because you're not listening to me! I'm staying right here."

"That's not really a good idea!"

Hourglass put her hands over her ears, "I can't hear you!"

"Hourglass!" She replied by loudly singing something that wasn't remotely in tune. The ectoplasm around her was moving much faster, and when Positgen tried to point it out to her Hourglass simply closed her eyes.

Positgen stared at her for a moment and made a choice to do something that was both brave and very, very stupid. He tackled her out of the portal's range, hoping that his momentum would carry him through as well. Only, it didn't.

Hourglass pulled her hands off her ears and whispered his name. She reached a hand towards him and Positgen, numbly, moved to grab it.

He didn't try to run. He didn't stand a chance as the small portal was forced to form and his core was split apart, and the energy from within it forced into the body of a college student.

But that was twenty years ago.

.-.-.-.-.-.

When the door opened again, Vlad was ready to strangle whoever was on the other side. Daniel poked his head in, and Vlad forced himself to be calm. "Can I help you?"

"Er, no." Jack's son pulled his head back. "Sorry."

Vlad waved him off, and when the door clicked shut he groaned. _Teenagers._ It was hard to believe that he'd ever been that insufferable.

Something shifted behind him, and with another groan Vlad spun his chair around. "Four days," He said, "Exactly how does that fit into the phrase 'I'll be back in an hour'?"

Positgen Plasmius, who was holding an ice pack to his cheek, rolled his eyes. "Yes, I have realized that I'm a moron. Thank you for pointing that out."

Paperwork forgotten, Vlad made his way over to the chair the ghost was sitting on. "What did you do to your face?"

"I tried to fight a teenager."

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "What a detailed explanation. I'm impressed you managed that."

"Ha ha, sarcasm, that's definitely what I needed to improve my day." Positgen pointed to the chair. "You might want to sit down. This could take awhile."

Vlad did. Positgen rubbed the uninjured side of his face before he spoke. "I was gone for four days because I needed to deal with my boss-"

"-And are you finally going to tell me who that is?"

"Absolutely not. I'm not dragging you into this." Positgen ignored Vlad's obvious annoyance as he continued, "However, my boss wasn't there, because apparently he did something he shouldn't have. Anyway, that led to me meeting with his boss, who is a horrible person and if she ever comes near you I'm going to burn her. Anyway- am I boring you already?"

Vlad, who'd taken to rubbing the sides of his head, quickly lowered his hands. "No, of course not. I'm just tired. Carry on."

Positgen didn't continue his story, instead choosing to look Vlad over. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

Vlad motioned to his desk, "Absolutely none."

"Right," Positgen stood, "That settles it, then. You go to your room and sleep, and I'm going to finish this all up for you."

Vlad sighed, "As tempting as the offer is, I'm going to have to pass. The Fentons are here, and I can't have them getting suspicious about us. Not to mention, you still owe me an explanation!"

"Whoa, whoa-" Positgen held up both his hands, and the icepack landed on the floor with a disappointing squish. "They're here? Already? But the reunion isn't until Thursday!"

"For whatever reason, they thought they should arrive two days early." Vlad smiled at Positgen's furious look. It was nice to have someone who unconditionally took his side.

"Well that's ridiculous!" He made a wild motion with his hand, smacking it into the wall. "After twenty years, they just show up with minimal warning- did they give you a chance to prepare? Of course they didn't, they're Fentons! And Fentons are selfish slobs who don't care about anyone but themselves!"

"Except for Maddie," Vlad said.

"Maddie doesn't count for a Fenton," Positgen said, "Besides, once this all works out, she'll have her proper place beside you as a Masters. By the way, have you triple checked every possible outcome of Project Vengeance yet?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, "I wish you wouldn't call it that. But yes, I have. If this works Jack will be humiliated and forced to watch his life fall apart around him while I stand victorious, and I will be able to have my second chance at everything he stole from me."

"Still sounds like vengeance to me. But until then-" He pointed to the door. "You go sleep. I doubt that anyone important will notice me before I can turn invisible, and I promise I will tell you everything once you've rested."

His words held sense, and Vlad was too tired to argue. "What about the teenager who injured you? Is that someone I should worry about?"

Positgen waved a hand, "Taken care of. I have him contained- he's a ghost, just so we're clear, and he's in the lab. I'm running a few experiments to figure out how he got in here. By the time I'm done he'll sing like a canary and won't even know he's doing it."

Vlad shook his head, "Just keep it quiet. Don't let any of the Fentons know about you or what you're doing. Watch out for Jasmine; she takes after her mother. And Daniel happens to like the pool."

Positgen rolled his eyes, motioning to the door. "I'll worry about them, you worry about sleeping. Go on, get going!" He shooed Vlad out of the room, "I've got everything under control! Nobody will find my project until I'm done, I _promise._"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny felt gross.

His skin felt like it was coated in a thick layer of squirming slime, and no amount of scrubbing in his hour-long shower had been able to get it to stop. And, because apparently the world decided that his suck cake needed some icing, Prince had disappeared.

Normally if the ghost was missing for a few hours, Danny wouldn't pay any attention. Prince came and went as he pleased and for the most part Danny was okay with that. But he hadn't been comfortable around Vlad, and it had been four hours since Danny had seen Prince last. Not to mention the fact that only ten minutes before, his ghost sense had led him to Vlad.

Something was wrong here. Something was very, very wrong. Danny clenched his fists, trying not to give in to the twisting feeling in his gut which was begging for a breakdown. He needed to find Prince.

"Danny?" He jumped a foot into the air and spun around at the sound of his sister's voice. "I was just going to come find you! Come on, I brought some macaroni in from the RV for you." She grabbed onto his wrist, pulling Danny through the doorway. "After that, Mom and Dad are going to go get Mr. Masters so we all can watch some movies together."

"Uh, that's nice," Danny said, contemplating whether or not turning his wrist intangible would be worth it. "But, uh, I was kind of in the middle of a call with Sam and Tucker, so I really should get back to that-"

"Your computer was shut down, Danny." She pulled him into the dining area.

"Okay, first of all," Danny said as his sister set him down at the table, "Don't look in my room; that's creepy. Second, I turned it off to save power. You know my battery sucks and dies randomly."

"Still," Jazz said, handing him some macaroni and a fork. "This is really important to Mom and Dad. Tucker can wait."

"And Sam." He pointed his fork at her, "Don't forget Sam." _Don't forget key details of my stupid lie._

Jazz pursed her lips together. "Right, Sam." She watched Danny eat for a second, "Danny, you know I only want to protect you, right?"

Danny nodded, not really listening. The sooner he finished his lunch, the sooner he could slip away and go back to looking for Prince.

"Do you know what type of person Sam is?"

"Uh..." He swallowed, "She's protective, ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, and she's a giant nerd about plants. Oh, and she hates bullies and the A-list, which are technically the same thing anyway."

Jazz frowned, "Danny, it's not nice to overgeneralize like that."

"You know what's also not nice? Grabbing your brother by the wrist and dragging him places."

"I made you _food._"

Danny shrugged, shoveling more macaroni into his mouth. "That's beside the point."

"Don't speak with your mouth full, little brother." Jazz tucked a strand of hair behind her right ear. "I'm only looking out for you, Danny. That's all I've ever tried to do. And I just think you should be careful around her. The rumors about Sam aren't all wrong, you know."

Danny gripped the fork tighter. "Rumors? Jazz, what are you talking about?"

Jazz rested her hands on the table, looking at Danny with what seemed to be pity. "Samantha Manson-"

"Her name's Sam."

Jazz ignored him. "-Rebecca Blackwaters, and Mia Bynes have been an infamous trio since kindergarten. They'll pretend to be having a fight, say they're going their separate ways, and work their way into other people's lives. They gain their trust, pretend to be their friends, and then use everything they've learned to hurt them. Danny, they pit people against each other for the fun of it."

Danny shook his head. "Sam wouldn't. She hates people like that."

"How do you know?" Jazz asked, "Danny, you may have been going to school with her since kindergarten but you know nothing about her!"

"Oh, and you do?" He pushed his half-filled bowl of macaroni away, "She's my friend, Jazz, and she wants to help me as much as Tucker does. I don't know what kind of rumors you've been hearing but that's not Sam!"

"I knew you wouldn't listen to me," She sighed, "I just want to help."

"Well, stop. Because you're not." Danny stood, "I have stuff to do with my friends, who are not liars and do care about me. I'm not hungry anymore." He left the room, and instead of heading back towards his room, focused deep on the feeling in his gut. _Come on, Prince, where are you? _

"Danny!" He jumped as his dad threw open a door and caught him in a hug. Danny squirmed, trying to get in a position where his ribs didn't feel like they were being broken. "Come on, we're just setting up! Your mom will be bringing Vladdie in soon!" He pulled Danny into the room, and away from his search for Prince.

Danny grunted as he was dropped in a chair, a popcorn machine in the corner catching his eye. _Right, rich._

Jazz came in a minute later, and started helping their dad look through movies in the cupboards. "Why does he have so many romantic comedies?"

Jack looked over and shrugged, "Dunno, Vladdie always seemed to be more into horror."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Vlad likes horror movies?" He tried to picture the billionaire watching something like The Ring, cuddling with a huge pillow out of fear. He snorted at the image.

Maddie led in an obviously annoyed Vlad a moment later, and directed him to a spot on Danny's left. He looked exhausted, and Danny sent the billionaire a sympathetic look. He knew how stressful his parents could be.

That didn't mean he liked the man who had potentially stolen his friend.

Jazz sat down on Danny's other side, and thinking back to what she'd said about Sam, Danny moved closer to Vlad. The older man gave no sign that he was aware of what Danny had done, and instead looked as if he was about to fall asleep. Unfortunately for Vlad, his naptime was postponed when Jack threw an armful of DVDs into his lap. "You get first pick, V-man!"

Vlad looked like he was ready to strangle Jack, and Danny considered moving closer to Jazz. Instead he moved closer to Vlad just to spite her.

Eventually a movie was picked, and Danny tried to pretend he was paying attention. Internally however, he was running over every part of the house he'd seen. Prince had to be somewhere, and Danny knew he was in trouble. _I should've started looking sooner._ He looked around, trying to think of an exit route. And then he felt pins and needles climb up his right side.

It took Danny seconds to realize that he was too far away from Prince. He moved to the left, closer to Vlad, dread rising up in his gut. The door was on the right side of the room; he was trapped.

Three more seconds passed without an incident, and Danny could feeling something in his chest ache. The pins and needles left, and Danny tried to ignore the confused looks Vlad was giving him as he cuddled with the man's arm.

He needed to find Prince.

And he needed to do it _now._

.-.-.-.-.-.

The round ended as Infinite swore, and Stopwatch decided that if this damn game went on much longer he was going to stab him again.

"Okay," Infinite was saying now, gently tapping the burn he now had on his arm. Apparently, if Stopwatch disconnected his own shield, it would break his teammates' as well. Who knew? "That plan could have gone better."

Time Turner, who'd given Infinite his new injury, looked horrified. "I am _so_ sorry."

"Are you certain you don't want to switch teammates?" Gabriella asked, looking Team Batali Mi over in concern. Stopwatch didn't blame her; they'd lost every round, _horribly._

"Absolutely," Tempest said, leaning on Infinite. "We suck, but we suck together."

Time Turner raised his eyebrows, looked over the team, and looked up at Ghostwriter. The taller ghost shrugged and moved back to their side of the field.

"Alright," Gabriella said, reconnected their shields, and stepped back towards the center of the island. "I think this should be our last round. Any suggestions for our grand finale?"

"Oh, don't quit on our account," Infinite said, "We're improving. We lasted a full twenty minutes that time!"

"We would have lasted longer if our VIP hadn't been a fucking idiot," Tempest said, glaring back at Stopwatch. He shrugged; _apparently_ being their VIP in that round meant he wasn't supposed to get hit. And _apparently_ it had to be him because he was 'good at dodging.' And _apparently_ breaking the shield attached to his hand did _not_ make it so he could protect Hourglass and not throw the match, but instead meant the others could get hurt while they automatically lost. This whole situation could have been avoided if they'd just explained it to him in the first place.

"Tempest, stop!" Hourglass spoke up, "Why do you have to be so mean to him?"

"I'm mean to everyone," She waved a hand dismissively, "Don't feel special."

Infinite took a step away from her, leaving Tempest leaning on air. She didn't seem too bothered by it. "Alrighty then, Edgy McEdgerson."

Time Turner cleared his throat, looking more awkward than normal. "Is everyone okay with doing another VIP round?"

He was met with a chorus of "Yes," while Stopwatch crossed his arms and looked away. _Why can't we just have a food round. We just get a round object and see how much food we can put in it. That'd be a much better game than this._

Gabriella dumped them in their base, and Stopwatch floated out of the stream he'd ended up in. Hourglass flew over to his side, grabbed him by the wrist, and pulled Stopwatch to the bank with his teammates.

Infinite had tied his sweater around his waist- like a _nerd-_ and looked like he was attempting to shove his cloak in his pocket. He was surprisingly successful. "Just so we're clear, I am _not_ losing again."

"Well how do you propose we win?" Tempest asked, sounding more annoyed than usual.

"We surrender then punch Time Turner in his face?" Stopwatch suggested.

Infinite pointed a finger at him. "No." He crossed his arms, looking thoughtful for a second. "Okay; new plan... we don't die."

"That isn't new," Hourglass said.

Stopwatch rolled his eyes, "And it still isn't a plan."

"And we've already all failed it," Tempest raised her eyebrows. "So stop dicking around and get your fucking ass in gear."

"Jeez, so mean. Why do I have to come up with all the plans?" Infinite rolled his eyes, "Fine. Hourglass, since Stopwatch absolutely _has_ to defend you, you can be the VIP. Tempest and I will go and invade the other team." He coated his hands in ectoplasm, "Let's do this shit."

_Game On!_ etched itself into the sky, and the other two took off into the forest around them. Stopwatch glared at the area around him, arms crossed.

"I don't like this game," He grumbled.

"I know," Hourglass said, patting his arm. "But everyone else is having fun! Can you try not to look so grumpy, just for thirty more minutes? Please? It'll, um, be over soon, and then you never have to do it again!"

Stopwatch sighed, and nodded. He tried to smile, ignoring Hourglass' quiet laughter as he did. "That's better!" She poked his uninjured cheek, and Stopwatch poked her back. The two quickly dissolved into a snickering poke war, trying to avoid the other while still getting a poke in. With the amount of noise they were making, they were _very_ easy for any of the others to find.

From the corner of his eye, Stopwatch saw a flash and quickly planted himself between it and Hourglass. Infinite landed roughly on the ground, rolling to the side and jumping to his feet. He frowned as he noticed the two of them. "Ah shit, I died didn't I?"

"Looks like!" Hourglass said cheerfully, "You want to, um, stay with us now? We're poking each other!"

"Cool beans." He dusted himself off, flicking a clump of blue mud from his shirt. "I'm just going to wait here for Tempest. There's no way she got out of that ambush."

"Ambush?" Hourglass covered her mouth with her hand. "Did they hurt her?"

"Oh, no!" Infinite said quickly, holding out his hands. "Of course they didn't! Unless our shields get broken again she's fine." Hourglass relaxed, and Stopwatch examined the shield marking on the back of his hand.

Infinite nodded, nudged the stream with his boot, and started taking pictures with his phone. After a few minutes, he put the phone away and awkwardly looked them over. "So, seen any good movies lately?"

Stopwatch pretended to be confused, "What's a movie?"

Behind him, a branch broke.

"Stopwatch!" Hourglass dug her elbow into his side. "We know what movies are, Infinite."

There was a loud thump, also behind him. Infinite raise an eyebrow as it was followed by a quiet apology. "Yeah, that's nice. Turn around, please."

Stopwatch waved a hand, coating his energy around something behind him. He pulled it forwards, floating a particularly ugly squirrel beside Infinite's face. "Hey, look, Time Turner sent out a spy."

The squirrel replied by melting. Stopwatch dropped it with a disgusting splat, Infinite looked like he was about to faint, and Hourglass nudged it with her foot.

"It didn't have a core," She said quietly, "Stopwatch, why did you grab a fake squirrel?"

Before Stopwatch could reply, he was shot in the back and forced to respawn.

After landing in the creek, _again,_ Stopwatch could see Time Turner and his friend in one of the trees. He shot a violet coloured blast at them, but Ghostwriter pulled them both out of the way. Glaring at where they had been, he looked around for Hourglass. A second later, there was a flash of light and Infinite appeared beside him.

"Where's Hourglass?" He asked, looking around.

"She's not with you?"

"If she was with me, we would have lost." Infinite rolled his eyes, "Whatever. You find her, I'll find Tempest, and we'll go back to sucking at this fucked-up version of laser tag." He flew to the left. Stopwatch flew to the right. After another cheap shot from someone on Time Turner's side he found himself lying in the creek. _Why._

Infinite landed on the bank, groaned, and looked over at Stopwatch. "Uh, are you okay?"

"Fuck you," Stopwatch replied, making no effort to get up.

"My girlfriend disagrees," Infinite hesitated before holding out a hand to help him up.

Stopwatch ignored it and made his way to the bank. He rushed back into the forest, only to end up back in the water. His third through fifth attempts ended much the same.

"You done yet?" Infinite asked.

Stopwatch looked away with a huff. "What do you want?" He threw his hands in the air, "If we leave our home base they shoot us, Hourglass is out there but still alive, and we lost Tempest. Don't tell me I have to deal with your shitty sense of humor too."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't insult my _fantastic_ sense of humor." Infinite crossed his arms. "Anyway, it's a pretty good system. We're the best fighters, so they contain us."

"Bees in a jar," Stopwatch muttered, trying to figure out why Infinite's words had reminded him of such a weird phrase.

Infinite raised an eyebrow. "Not even gonna ask." He looked thoughtful for a second, as a smirk appeared on his face. "I've got a plan. How well is your reality manipulation working?"

Stopwatch raised his eyebrows.

Two minutes later, as Infinite screamed _"release the bees!"_ and cackled like a madman, Stopwatch created a fake swarm of bees and shot them towards Time Turner.

Infinite took the lead as soon as he was down, moving with Stopwatch behind him. He made a motion with his hand and ducked into a rocky area, hiding them both behind a boulder. Infinite looked over at Stopwatch with a huge grin, holding up his fist. "Dude, nice!"

Hesitantly, Stopwatch bumped it and looked around the boulder. "Did we lose them?"

"I certainly hope so, because if I turn around and Ghostwriter's behind me I'm going to scream."

Stopwatch looked back to see Infinite look over his shoulder at the empty space behind them, pumping his fist in the air when it was revealed to be empty. Stopwatch found himself smiling, and forced his mouth back into a frown. _Nope. Not funny. Not remotely funny._

A little ways away, Stopwatch could faintly hear someone shouting. _Hourglass?_

"Hey, we found her." Infinite said, pointing back towards the trees. "I'll go deal with those assholes, you make sure nobody shoots her." He pointed a pair of finger guns at Stopwatch, clicked his tongue, and moved quickly back into the forest.

Stopwatch hurried towards where she was shouting from, landing behind a rock. Hourglass, Tempest, and Gabriella were all in a valley. Hourglass' hood had fallen down and she sounded like she was about to start crying. "Pariah Dark did nothing wrong!" She screamed.

A little ways away, Tempest fell to the ground laughing.

"Oh, and Warrior Boy and Dark did?" Gabriella snapped back, and Stopwatch hid more behind the rock. This was definitely _not_ something he wanted to get involved in.

"They destroyed children and families!" Hourglass screamed, tears building up in her eyes. "They did _nothing _good for the world! At least Pariah helped people!"

"He destroyed hundreds of the beings he had sworn to protect based on a rumor."

"Spread by the Rebels!"

"Prove it!"

Behind Stopwatch, someone landed. He looked back to see Ghostwriter standing there, frowning.

"Truce?" Stopwatch said, pointing over his shoulder at the argument behind him.

"Truce," Ghostwriter agreed, moving to look over the rock. "Are you going to stop them?"

Stopwatch could hear Hourglass crying as she tried to form an argument. He swallowed, clenched his fists, and said "No."

"Are you sure?" He asked as Stopwatch turned around, "Your friend is crying."

"I'm sure," He didn't make his way back to the rock, "This isn't something I can deal with for her."

"So you're not Royal, then?" Ghostwriter nodded, sounding as if he was talking to himself. "Good to know. What side are you on?"

Time Turner and Infinite appeared in a swirl of green ectoplasm, holding tightly to each other's arm. "Please tell me you're not talking about the divide," Time Turner groaned, watching his friend. "I know that look. If you start talking about the Ancients I'm going to punch you."

"You'd break your arm trying," Ghostwriter replied.

"To be fair," Infinite said, letting go of Time Turner and stepping away. "They're in a really interesting moral gray zone. Pariah Dark was a selfish prick with anger issues long before they showed up, but if he had snapped when they weren't there none of us would exist. But, still, they had to destroy innocent children to save the world. I can see why someone would find that interesting."

Ghostwriter scoffed, "I bet you could."

"Don't encourage him," Time Turner said, "I don't feel like spending the next four hours discussing the logic behind the war."

Stopwatch raised a hand, "I do." _Nobody else ever talks about it._

"He only believed that because of Raine!" Hourglass' particularly shrill scream brought their attention back to the argument going on below them. Tempest, who was still on the ground, was watching Hourglass with an annoyed look. "If she hadn't spread that rumor-"

"Maybe she was used," Tempest snapped, "Did you ever think of that? _Maybe_ the Royal Army didn't like how she spoke her mind, and they didn't like Clockwork or Tardis because their powers were too _Rebel_ for their tastes. So they decided to get rid of them all in one fell swoop by making sure that the king's thirteen-year-old _maid_ spread their lie. She only wanted to help, you ungrateful brat!"

"Oh jeez," Infinite stepped forwards, "Isn't anyone going to stop them?"

"Thirteen's old enough to know the truth from a lie!" Hourglass shouted back, "I'm thirteen, and I'm not an idiot!"

"You're a Royal," Gabriella said, "It's the same thing."

"No, seriously," Infinite said, "This is wrong. Someone needs to do something. Stopwatch? She's your best friend."

"I'm a Rebel," He said, "I don't want to get involved."

"Why would you be a Rebel?" Ghostwriter asked. "That entire group is a huge source of misinformation. While the Royals twist the facts, so many of the Rebels will outright lie about the events of the war in order to minimize the-" He stopped abruptly when Time Turner jabbed him with an elbow.

"You all suck," Infinite said, untying his sweater from around his waist with one hand and pulling his cloak out of his pocket with another. "Seriously, fuck all of you."

"Let's not," Time Turner said.

"Making sex jokes does not diminish the fact that you're all assholes. You look at two people who are attacking a teenager for having different beliefs than them and do nothing. This is wrong, and fuck all of you for ever thinking that it's right." He tossed Ghostwriter his ugly sweater and started to do up the clasp on his cloak. "Make yourself useful and hold this." He disappeared with a twist of green ectoplasm.

"Finally," Ghostwriter said, holding the orange sweater in his hands. Stopwatch smelt smoke.

"Don't you dare," Time Turner said.

Ghostwriter grinned and the sweater burst into flames.

"And you did it. Great. Good job Andrew, you burned a sweater. Are you proud of yourself?"

"Yes, _Tyler,_ I am."

Infinite had reappeared right in front of Hourglass. "What is wrong with you?! Both of you!" For some reason, Time Turner groaned. "Are you honestly attacking a teenager because her beliefs are different than yours? Are you actually this petty?"

"She was fighting back," Tempest said.

"Of course she was," Infinite replied, "If someone came up to me and told me that everything I believed was a lie I'd fight back too."

"Why are you defending her?" Gabriella asked, "You're supposed to be on our side."

"I'm not on a side," Infinite said, "I fight for what is right, and regardless of your status attacking Hourglass like this is wrong." He held his hand back towards her, and Stopwatch frowned as she grabbed on. "Thank you for a wonderful game. However, for the time being, it may be best if we don't associate with each other again." He teleported them both away, and the remaining players returned to the original island.

"He protected that Royal Sympathizer," Gabriella crossed her arms, "Disgusting."

"You were fine with her before you knew which side she was on," Stopwatch said. "I don't get why you were so mad at her. _I'm_ Rebel and I'm still friends with her."

"To be Rebel you have to accept the Master of Time as the singular ruler of the Ghost Zone," Tempest said. "Don't use our name when you don't follow our code."

"I'll use whatever name I want!" Stopwatch clench his fists, "It's my choice!"

The ectoplasm in front of him twisted, and Infinite reappeared. "You guys suck," He said. "You're on the same side and you're still trying to rip each other's throats out. Calm down and re-evaluate your priorities." He held out his hand to Stopwatch, much like he had done for Hourglass. "Because if you're this ready to fight each other, then this damn divide will get you all killed sooner than I thought."

Stopwatch grabbed Infinite's hand and found himself landing softly on a floating purple rock. Infinite let go, stepped away, and Hourglass threw her arms around Stopwatch.

"You were right," She sobbed, "I hate laser tag!"

"That's not fair," Infinite said. "It was pretty fun before you guys decided to live up to our team name."

"No it wasn't," Stopwatch said, awkwardly patting Hourglass on her back. "Let's never do it again."

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was nearly eight hours of movie watching and his parents rambling about weird old college stories later before Danny was able to get away from his family and Vlad. His parents had told him and Jazz to go set the table- apparently the RV had a barbecue, and Jack was making hamburgers- but the second nobody was watching Danny dove through the nearest wall and continued his search.

Danny frowned as he reached the pool, looking through the windows. _Why did I come here?_ He shook his head and was about to turn around when something caught his eye. _Weren't there three chairs before?_

As he pushed the door open, Danny looked around and frowned. _Weird. But not important. I need to keep looking._ But the twisting feeling in his gut wouldn't let him leave.

Danny took several steps forwards, reaching the edge of the pool. There was something down there which shouldn't have been, and Danny stuck his head under the water to get a better look at it. It was a broken pen, much like the one Prince had been playing with.

Danny fished it out and turned it between his fingers, fiddling with it just as Prince had been hours before. Something caught his eye by the pool's filter, and he knelt down to touch it. It was thick, green, and felt like clumps of half-formed Jell-O. "Ectoplasm?"

The room almost seemed to start spinning, and Danny felt like he was about to fall over. He could see fragments of a scene playing out in his mind's eye. Prince had been thrown back and hit his head, crunching the pen he'd tucked behind his ear. He'd sunk under the water, only to be pulled back up... he'd been attacked, but by who? And why hadn't Danny felt anything? There'd been no emotions or pain from the ghost, no sense that he'd been in danger. Danny wrapped his arms around his midsection as he realized what the feeling in his gut was.

It was emptiness. Something had happened to separate Prince from him, and now Danny felt honestly ill.

He dropped the pen and rushed into the bathroom, kneeling beside the toilet and feeling as if he was about to throw up. Danny placed a hand on the wall to steady himself, breathing deeply. _I messed up. I messed up bad._ _He told me there was something wrong with this place and I didn't listen._ Danny leaned back, resting his head against the wall. _Good job, Fenton. You've been his friend for less than a week and you've already failed him._ _This is why people hate you._ He turned intangible and fell back through the wall, wondering if he'd suffocate when he became solid again.

Instead Danny found himself scrambling to his feet on the other side, eyes wide and sure he was only seconds away from a mental breakdown.

Polished with a shine of green and gold, what had to be Vlad Masters' lab was huge. A couple half assembled ghost-hunting weapons were placed on a counter, along with some camera-like device which Danny strongly considered smashing. Before he could do so, however, his attention was pulled towards a huge, green box on the far side of the lab. Danny felt himself being pulled towards it, and a second later he placed a hand on the glass. It was nearly impossible to see anything inside of it aside from a thick green fog, and no noise came from within. "Prince?" Danny asked, and knocked on it three times. "Are you in there?"

Five seconds passed, and there was a faint tapping noise.

"Prince?" Danny said hopefully, pushing his face up against the glass. "I'm going to get you out of there, but first I need to know you're okay."

More tapping, quicker this time.

Danny could feel his stomach do a flip and nearly threw up. Something was horribly, horribly wrong. "Prince?" He asked again, stepping back and grabbing the whistle. "Prince, is that you?"

Something crashed into the glass front of Danny. He yelped and fell back, shielding his face with his arms as he landed on his rear. When he lowered his arms, there was nothing there.

Danny licked his lips. "Okay," He whispered, moving back, "Okay this has crossed _so_ many lines and I think I'm just going to... _yeah..."_

Something crashed into the glass again, but this time it stayed where it was. Danny froze, staring at the creature who growled back at him. _No way. _

To some degree, it was Prince. Danny could see his shoes, and though his hair was significantly more messy it was still _his._ But his body was littered with wounds, a few of which were dripping his green blood. The rest seemed to have ice crystals growing from them which were crawling across Prince's body. One his eyes was covered by the icicles hanging from his hair, while the other was pupiless and had green smoke rising from it. His clothing was tattered, and his nails had pointed claws of ice. Prince crashed into the glass again and hissed, tiny fangs appearing on his upper jaw.

"Prince," Danny muttered, "Holy crap, what happened to you?"

Prince snapped at him, ice claws scraping against the glass.

"I should've listened," Danny stood, stepping back as Prince crashed into the glass again. "You were right; about Vlad and about all this. He's creepy and I'm so, _so_ sorry I brushed you off. I'm gonna fix this." There had to be a way to get him out. He could figure out what to do with Prince after he was free.

Trying to ignore the scraping on the glass in front of him, Danny moved around the tank. On the other side there was a black device hooked up to it, and if Danny squinted he could see that it was pumping out the fog. Prince was still crashing into the other side, trying to get away. _Stupid Vlad. How dare he hurt Prince?_ Danny cracked his knuckles, _stupid Mom and Dad for making us come here, _he took a step back, _and stupid Jazz for trying to convince me that my friends don't care about me!_

Danny threw himself at the device, detaching it from Prince's prison and sending them both skidding across the floor. He crashed face first into the nearby wall and pain split through his nose.

"Worth it," Danny muttered, holding his shirt up to his nose stop the trickle of blood from it. It wasn't broken, thankfully, and the blood stopped after a moment. Danny sat up slowly, looking at the broken machine leaking ectoplasm beside him. He gave it a kick as he stood up for good measure. "Take that, you creep."

A weak noise caught his attention, and Danny snapped his head towards where Prince was. The fog had lifted, and Prince was lying curled up on his side. The ice had fallen off of him, and he was surround bed a small, slowly growing puddling of green.

He wasn't moving.

"No," Danny muttered, moving quickly towards the ghost. "No no no- Prince! Come on, don't do this!" He stopped as he passed where he'd ripped the black thing from. There was a hole in the side now, and though it wasn't very big, Danny wasn't either.

He didn't spare a moment to wonder how exactly he'd get out. Danny wiggled through the hole, landed awkwardly, and rushed over to Prince. He pulled him closer to the middle, biting his lip. Prince's eye, which had been covered by the icicle, had turned an ugly dark green and was swollen shut. What remained of his left sleeve was stained a bright, _bright_ green. Danny laid Prince on his side and moved back, not sure what to do.

What couldn't have been more than a few minutes felt like an eternity. But eventually, Prince groaned and Danny moved closer, resting a hand gently on Prince's shoulder.

Within seconds, Prince had pulled away and flattened himself against the glass. "I'm sorry," He whispered, holding up his arms to shield his face as his form flickered. "I'm sorry I'm sorry please don't hurt me I'm sorry-"

"Whoa, hey!" Danny said, holding out his hands. "It's okay!" Prince lowered his hands, "It's just me. It's just Danny."

"Danny?" He squinted with his uninjured eye, "I- I can't see you. Everything's really blurry, and-" He lifted a hand, touching his injured left eye gently. "When did I hurt my eye?"

Danny relaxed, "You're okay." The twisting in his gut subsided as Danny felt a wave of soreness in his own eye. He shoved Prince lightly, a huge relieved smile taking over his face. "Don't scare me like that! I was really worried about you!"

"I'm sorry," Prince muttered, rubbing his arm. "Where are we?"

Danny lowered his voice, "I think it's Vlad's ghost lab. I broke in to come get you."

"What?" Prince reached out, grabbing onto Danny's leg. "Danny, that's dangerous! You're gonna get hurt!"

Danny raised an eyebrow, "You really think I'm going to leave you in his spooky lab of doom? What kind of friend would I be then?" He stood, holding out a hand for Prince to grab. "Let's get out of here. Can you walk?"

Hesitantly, Prince reached for Danny's hand.

And then Danny was yanked back, hitting his head on the opposing wall as it became very difficult to breathe.

The last thing he heard was Prince scream his name.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Danny?!" Prince beat his fists on the hastily constructed shield between them, "Danny, no, no no no-" This was _not_ happening. This _could not_ be happening.

"Well," Positgen said in a stupid, slimy voice. "This is a surprise."

Prince snapped in the direction of the blurry figure standing beside his friend's limp outline. "Leave him alone!"

"I don't think I will." Positgen's outline disappeared, and Danny's got up. "Ugh, teenagers."

Prince stumbled back, hands on the sides of his head as he was bombarded with a feeling of _wrong wrong WRONG._

"So this must be the one they call Warrior Boy." He took a few steps in Danny's body, "I must say, I expected something a bit more impressive."

"Get out of him!" Prince snapped, his voice losing its edge. _Please._

"So much of his mind has been locked away," Not-Danny looked thoughtful, "I wonder... is it from denial of his crimes, or is it your doing? Did you want him to have a normal life, as a _human?_" He spat the word, and it felt so wrong to hear in Danny's voice.

"I didn't do anything to him!" Prince pleaded, trying desperately to clear his vision. "He's my friend!"

"So he did it to himself, then?" Positgen said, "Fascinating. I can't even access the surface of his thoughts."

_You're overshadowing him but you can't see his mind?_ Prince blinked, saw a little clearer, and smiled. _Danny, never stop being awesome._ "You don't know anything about him. And you never, _never_ will."

Positgen turned towards him, obviously confused.

"He's locked you out," Prince continued, crossing his arms and trying to pretend it didn't hurt to do so. "You're not the first to try doing something like that to him, and just like the others you've failed. You're going to get anything from him. All I ever really got from him was the ability to speak English and a couple names, and I'm closer to him than you could ever dream of being. Danny's mind is a ghost-free zone. No matter what assholes like you try to do, his mind is _safe."_ Prince stood up a little straighter, "He wins, you lose." _Fuck you._

Positgen growled and abandoned Danny's body, letting him fall limply to the floor. It occurred to Prince that they'd, somehow, gotten out of his prison while he could still barely see. "You seem to have misunderstood our situation," He said. "I don't care about you, or your little friend. What I want is information, and since you seem so reluctant to provide it," One of his hands lit up with ectoplasmic fire, "I find myself in a position where I'll have to resort to more barbaric measures."

Prince froze, staring at him. "Don't."

"Then tell me what I want to know," Positgen said, motioning to Danny, "And he'll be fine. If not, well..." He knelt down, moving the flame close to Danny's head. Prince smelled burnt hair.

"Danny!" He smashed into the glass, fingernails scraping against as he tried to turn intangible.

"An interesting fact about that unit," Positgen said, lifting Danny up. "It's based upon the royal barriers that King Pariah Dark used."

Prince pulled back, staring at him. "It's _what?!"_

"Oh, I've made some adjustments of course," He waved a hand, which was no longer on fire. "Reinforced it with a thick glass lair, forced it through a frame, and used several lighter versions within the walls to discourage unwitting humans from entering. And yet still, this boy managed to find his way here, into a room without doors." He lifted Danny up by the back of his shirt, and Prince watched his friend hang limply. "Now how did a _human_ do that?"

"I don't know," Prince answered honestly, "He was here when I woke up."

"Liar," Positgen said, and his free hand once again lit up with ectoplasmic flames.

"I'm not lying!" He threw himself against the barrier, "I don't know how he got in here!" _He probably turned intangible, but I can't say that. Danny will get really upset if I tell people, and then Positgen will hurt him._

"And why should I trust you?" Positgen said, "You broke into my home, put someone I care about in danger, and somehow led this _thing_ into my lab."

Prince stared at him, and he stared at Danny.

Danny, who liked bad puns and dogs. Who made Prince food and bought him stuff to draw with. Who'd gotten him his doll despite how horrible Prince had been, and opened his home when Prince hadn't deserved to be warm.

Danny, who'd kept giving Prince more chances even as he deserved them less and less. He'd decided they should be friends, and kept the offer open until Prince was ready. He let Prince try again when he made a mistake- and he made a _lot_ of mistakes. Time after time, Danny had tried to make things better for him, and Prince had done nothing to help him.

"_You really think I'm going to leave you in his spooky lab of doom? What kind of friend would I be then?_"

It wasn't worth it. Danny's life wasn't worth his.

Prince wiped the ectoplasm off of his right wrist and held up his birthmark. "Because my name is Prince Phantom. Now, please, could you release my friend?"

Positgen looked shocked, but lowered Danny. "Prince Phantom," He repeated, and Prince's core twisted, and he tensed as he tried to fight the impending order off. _No! No no no no- _"What are you doing here?"

_No, no, no! Don't do this! It's not an order it's just a question don't do this!_ His core felt as if it was about to fall apart, and before he could stop himself Prince was telling Positgen everything.

When the order had run its course, and Prince was back in control of his own body, he felt the need to throw up when he saw Positgen's wide, fanged smile. _"Fascinating."_

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny woke up in his pajamas and staring at his bed's canopy. "Am I dead?" He muttered, rubbing his neck. _Everything is pain._

"Nah," Prince said, and Danny looked over to see the ghost sitting in a chair right beside his bed. He'd wrapped himself up in a thick quilt, and was looking slightly better. "You're okay."

"Cool." He rolled onto his side, "How's your eye?"

Prince shrugged, one of his eyes still swollen shut. "I still don't know how I hurt it, but I can almost see things now. That's good."

Danny nodded, licking his lips. "Did I pass out or something?"

Prince hesitated, looking away as he nodded. "Yeah. There was some, uh, really bad ectoplasm in that thing. You must've breathed it in."

"Yay, lung cancer. Just what I needed." Danny groaned, sitting up in bed. "So you brought me back here?"

Prince opened his mouth to reply, but stopped as he saw Danny's ghost sense. Danny turned to the other side of the bed just in time to see another ghost phase through the floor. His skin was pale blue, and his black hair was slicked back. He had a package of papers in hand and looked over it with solid red eyes.

"Blood pressure is normal, temperature normal, and no boils on the face. He's got quite the tolerance for impure ectoplasm, unlike you, Mr. Superior Pure-level core." He licked his finger and flipped a page, "I would recommend that you..." He trailed off, looking up and noticing Danny. "Oh, he's awake." He bent down, examining Danny curiously. "Positgen Plasmius, pleasure to meet-"

With a scream, Danny pulled his left foot free from the covers and kicked Positgen in the face. He rolled to the right and out of the bed, grabbing Prince and pulling him out the door. "Go, go, go!"

"Danny, wait!" Prince called, and Danny forced the two of them together.

"_No time!"_ He called, trying to get them off the ground. _"Prince, flying's faster! Help me out here!"_

"_But he's not-"_

"_I don't care! Just do it!"_

Prince seemed to shrug and the gravity turned off. Danny yelped as he found himself on the roof.

"_Prince, you aren't helping!"_

"_I noticed."_

Something was wrong with Prince's tone, but Danny didn't have time to worry about it. He forced them intangible and through the roof, hoping that would be enough of an escape for now.

Now in a huge, poorly-lit bedroom, Danny forced them apart and glared at the ghost beside him. "Thanks for your help. Prince, what was going on there? Who was that guy?"

Prince, who'd been messing around with one of his shirt's destroyed sleeves, shrugged as he looked up. "I don't know, my core hurts." He frowned, looking at something behind Danny. "Um," He said, poking Danny's shoulder several times. _"Um."_

"What?" Danny looked over his shoulder and froze.

Vlad Masters stood there, his hair loose and his jaw slack. A book lay half-open and forgotten on his bed as hesitantly, the man moved towards him. "You two... were you just...?"

"I can explain!" Danny shouted, turning fully around and using his hands as a shield. "I can- _wait._ Prince was in your spooky lab." He pushed the ghost back a little, "Get away from us or I swear to god I'll get my parents up here!"

Vlad stopped, "Your parents... know about him?" He looked a bit ill.

"Well, no- yes!" Danny pointed a finger at Vlad, stepping back too as he tried to lie. "Yes they do and- and if you don't let us go they'll- they'll- they'll come up here and kick your butt!"

Vlad stared at him. "But you two were _together."_

"I think we broke him," Prince said, moving to stand beside Danny.

"Wait," Danny said, lowering his accusing finger. "Was he the one who put you in that thing?"

Prince frowned, "Uh, no? He's _creepy,_ not a ghost. That was the other guy. Positgen. The blue one."

Danny pulled his hand back, "Oh. Well," He looked back toward the shocked Vlad, "This is... awkward." He took a step back, "Kind of very awkward."

"You two were _together,_" Vlad repeated, moving towards them. "You two were-"

"Please don't tell my parents!" Danny burst out, holding out his hands. "I lied they don't actually know! And I can't tell them since it was their portal that got Prince stuck to me and they won't take it well and they might dissect him or something-"

Prince reached over and put his hand over Danny's mouth. "You're dreeeaaaming," He dragged out the word, making spooky motions with his fingers, "Go back to _sleeeeeep._"

Danny pushed Prince's hand away, "How is _that_ helping?"

"How is telling him everything about us helping?"

Danny frowned, considered that, and started copying Prince. "I am the _dream Danny,_" He said, "I'm not _reaaaal._"

Vlad stared at them, one hand over his mouth and looking as if he was about to cry. Danny and Prince exchanged an awkward look before moving backwards, towards the door.

"I'm a figment of your _imagination,"_ Danny said, "Lay down and I'll go _awaaay."_ His spooky hand motions were cut off by his ghost sense, and Danny whirled around to see Positgen enter the room.

"Seriously? I try to be nice, and you-" He cut off, noticing Vlad. "I'm going to start drugging you if you don't sleep."

Vlad lowered his hand, "You knew about this?" He didn't finish. Danny and Prince exchanged an awkward look and moved a little to the left. Vlad's eyes never left them.

"I only found out a couple hours ago," Positgen said, "I didn't want to wake you. You need to _sleep_. If the whole insomnia thing is back again then I'm forcing you to go to a doctor tomorrow."

"You didn't want to wake me?" Vlad repeated, glaring at the ghost. He took a step forwards, his voice taking on a very dangerous tone. "Positgen Plasmius, I'm going to-"

"Hi," Danny said, waving a hand to stop the upcoming argument before it started. "I have no clue what's going on here."

"Danny," Prince said, grabbing onto his arm and pointing at Vlad. "Didn't he have a portal accident too?"

Danny's eyes went wide and he stumbled back, crashing into Prince. "Portal accident?" He forced himself and Prince together once again, staring at Vlad. "You... you're like... _he's like us, Prince!_"

Vlad smiled, and held out a hand in Positgen's direction. Positgen grabbed it with a huge grin, and a dark light overtook them. When it cleared, floating across from them was one being. There was Positgen's hair with Vlad's length, styled into two points. Vlad's smile, with Positgen's fangs. There was Positgen's skin and eyes, but it was Vlad's face. His clothing didn't seem to belong to either of them, though.

Danny separated from Prince, and Vlad separated from Positgen. The two humans faced each other, neither quite sure of what to say. Danny was just about to open his mouth to say something when Vlad abruptly rushed at him, pulling Danny into a tight hug. "You're like me," He said quietly.

"I'm like you," Danny repeated, arms pinned at his sides. "I didn't think there was anyone like me. I- I tried not to think about it, since distracting myself and ignoring problems is so much easier than dealing with things, but I'm _not_ alone and there is someone like me..." He trailed off, phasing an arm free and returning the hug. "You're like me! You've got a ghost and maybe the powers and- and you're awesome! You're like me!"

Behind them, Positgen clapped his hands together. "So, now that _that's_ out of the way, who wants to sleep?"

"I kind of want a pretzel, actually." Prince said.

Danny started laughing, and Vlad joined in. It was a loud, deep laugh, much like Jack's was.

"You're like me," Danny said again, pulling away.

Vlad smiled down at him, "And you, dear boy, are like _me."_

Behind them, Positgen smiled, ignoring the glare Prince sent his way. "Seriously though, you guys need to sleep." The humans ignored him, and so he bent down to whisper something in Prince's ear. Prince tensed, grabbed Danny, and phased them both through the floor.

Danny yanked his arms away, glaring at the ghost who was trying to make himself smaller. "Why would you do that?! Prince, they're like-" He stopped, a wave of Prince's fear hitting him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Prince lied, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Dude, I can feel your emotions." Prince looked up at that, "You're _not_ fine. What's wrong? Did one of them do something?"

Prince licked his lips and shook his head, "Nothing. It doesn't matter. You do need to sleep, though." He grabbed Danny's sleeve and started pulling him down the hall. "C'mon."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Maddie had gone to bed that night disappointed with her youngest child.

She knew he was struggling, but the way he'd left before dinner was beyond rude. She was sure that Vlad would be furious with Danny, and that would cause more problems than she could solve in two days. Without a miracle, the main reason for their trip would be crushed.

She expected Vlad to hide himself away all day once again, ignoring the world and focusing only on his work. It was unfortunate, but not unexpected.

She had _not_ expected to see Vlad standing in the kitchen, wearing a hideous green and gold apron. He turned towards her as she entered, spatula in hand and a wide smile on his face. "Maddie! Tell me, does your son like omelets?"

Maddie stepped back, several red flags rising within her mind. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just making breakfast." Vlad waved her off, "I'm sure he'll love it; it's _my_ cooking, after all!" Humming, he turned back to the stove and added some sausage to the pan.

"Vlad," Maddie said, "Why are you making my son breakfast?"

Vlad frowned at her, "I'm making you some too, my dear. I just wasn't aware you were awake yet. When I passed by Daniel's room I could hear him talking."

Maddie frowned; Danny, up before Jazz? Had her baby boy gotten any sleep at all? "Who was he talking to?"

"I don't believe that's either of our concern," Vlad said, adding some mushrooms into the omelette. "Since you're down here already, I'll just make yours first. I suppose you'd like the usual, then?"

"You still remember that?" Maddie said, looking over his shoulder.

"Mushrooms, sausage, extra cheese?" He grinned at her, and for a second they were back in college.

Maddie smiled back at him. "Define extra cheese."

Vlad raised an eyebrow and held up a large bowl of shredded cheese. "Will this be enough, or should I prepare more?"

There was series of quick thumps, and Maddie spun around as her husband wrapped his arms around her. He dipped her, pressing their lips together for several long moments. "Good morning," He said, and Vlad cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, this one's almost finished," He said, and Maddie gave her husband a small peck on the cheek. "Would you mind setting everything onto the table?"

"On it, V-man!" Jack said, throwing open a cupboard. "Well, they're not in here!"

Vlad sighed, gripping the spatula tighter. "Honestly, are you blind?" He pointed to a small stack of plates and utensils further along the counter. "You used them yesterday morning; this is ridiculous."

Maddie chewed on her bottom lip, uncomfortable with his tone. Jack had no such misgivings. He rushed to grab them and hurried into the dining area. Maddie watched her once-friend cook a second longer before heading after her husband, the moment between them gone.

Maddie knew thing couldn't go back to the way they'd been in college, and she was perfectly fine with that. Vlad had suffered with various issues in college that made him almost unbearable to be around on a bad day. Her own sister had suffered the misfortune of meeting Vlad on one of those days and had gotten into a fist fight with him. For a second, Maddie wondered if Vlad still had scars from Alicia's rings.

There was the sound of something almost falling over, a yelp in her youngest child's voice, and a second later an 'innocent' looking Danny entered the room.

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad," He said, "Um... is there a breakfast plan or should I go get stuff from the RV?"

"Vlad's making omelettes," Maddie said, deciding not to comment on his disappearance from the night before. "Why don't you go tell him what you'd like in yours?"

Looking surprisingly thrilled at the idea of interacting with the man he hadn't seemed to be comfortable around the day before, Danny rushed towards the kitchen. He hadn't yet reached it when Vlad stepped into the doorway. Danny stopped, staring up at him.

"Good morning, Daniel," Vlad said.

"Last night," Danny said quickly, "That actually happened, didn't it? You... and I..."

Several more red flags were quickly raised in Maddie's mind. "Last night?" She crossed her arms, staring down at her son. "Danny, what happened?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about now, my dear." Vlad said, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder, "Your son is fine, and the situation has been dealt with."

"Danny?" Maddie said again as her husband came to join her, "What happened?"

Danny hesitated, looking back up at Vlad. "Well... you see..."

"Don't you lie to me, young man," Maddie said, watching as her son rested a hand on the back of his neck. "What happened?"

Danny licked his lips, looked up at Vlad again, and rested the other hand on the back of his neck. "Okay so, uh, like he said I'm fine. No need to freak out! But um, I... might have kicked a ghost in the face last night."

"It was an ectopus," Vlad added on smoothly, "And as soon as I realized what was going on I dealt with and destroyed the creature. Though Daniel suffered some bruising, I assure you that he is perfectly fine."

Maddie's arms fell, "You fought a ghost?" She tried to picture the man in front of her, or even the version she'd known from college fighting off a ghost. It seemed impossible.

Jack laughed, "That's my boy!" He rushed forwards, pulling Danny away from Vlad and into a hug.

"Dad, no," Danny wheezed, flailing with a smile on his face, "Air!"

"But I do have to wonder how the creature got here," Vlad said, sounding thoughtful. "I don't have any ectoplasm in my home which could mutate enough to create one of those. And I assume you keep all your ectoplasm in superior condition, Maddie, so I find it difficult to believe that you created one. Unless that RV of yours runs on ectoplasm, of course."

Jack dropped Danny and pointed at Vlad, "Excellent observation, V-man! I'll check the weapons in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, find the problem, and report back to you! Come, Maddie!" He rushed out of the room, dropping his confused son.

Maddie rolled her eyes and turned towards her son. "If you see any more ectopuses or ghosts then you just scream for me, alright Danny?"

Danny gave her a thumbs up, one hand returning to the back of his neck. "Got it."

"And Vlad?" He smiled as she addressed him, "The same goes for you. I appreciate you saving my son, but leave fighting ghosts to the professionals." Maddie turned and rushed after her husband.

It wasn't until she was outside that she realized she hadn't forced Danny to take his pills. When she had grabbed them and returned to the kitchen, Danny was gone.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny found it ridiculously amusing how grumpy Vlad looked after his mom's brush off. Vlad soon recomposed himself and turned towards Danny, smiling once again.

"Last night did happen, Little Badger. It truly did."

"Little Badger?" Danny frowned, "What does that mean?"

Vlad frowned, "It's a nickname. I'm sorry, do you not like it?"

"No, it's great!" Danny spoke quickly, holding out his hands. "It's just, uh, Jazz is normally the one who gets nicknames." He smiled, "Little Badger. Does this mean I have to come up with one for you now?"

"If you'd like, then please do." Vlad motioned to a chair, "Sit down, dear boy. I have some questions that I'd like you to answer." He did, and Vlad started pacing in front of him. "That ghost whom you are connected to, his name is Prince, is it not?"

Danny nodded, feeling slightly as if he was being interrogated. "Yes? And your's is Positgen, right?"

"Correct," He stopped, giving Danny an odd look. "Do you find that name odd?"

"Who's, Positgen?" Danny shrugged, "Uh, a little, I guess. I've met a ghost named Skulker before, and Prince's last name is Phantom."

Vlad raised an eyebrow, "I see." He went back to pacing, "And you know about my accident, do you not?"

"Vaguely; my dad mentioned it on our way here and then some weird lady stole my fries." He shrugged, "I didn't get much other than your portal exploded, ectoplasm went everywhere, and you got Ecto Acne. And I still have no idea what that is."

Vlad stopped again, grabbed a chair, and sat down across from Danny. "You don't know what Ecto Acne is?"

"No?" Danny frowned, "Should I?"

"It's a horrible, horrible disease which causes painful growths, blackouts, violent actions, and rash decisions. There is no official cure, since the medical community continues to reject all ideas of purifying ectoplasm in medical practices no matter what steps Positgen and I have made in that field." His frown deepened, "And you were spared from it?"

"Yes...?" Danny said, leaning back and patting his face. "I think?"

Vlad took a breath, calmed himself, and returned his expression to neutral. "I do apologize, Daniel. I wouldn't wish Ecto Acne on anyone, and I am beyond thankful that you did not suffer as I have. How long ago was your accident?"

Danny frowned, "Uh... almost two months ago."

Vlad nodded, looking very interested. "And how long after that was Prince able to make a solid form?"

Danny frowned, "Uh... two minutes?"

Vlad stared at him, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Well, it might've been two weeks," Danny frowned, "And I mean couldn't really _see_ him for the first week but he was totally there. How long did it take for you guys?"

Vlad took a deep breath. "Four years."

"Oh." Danny stared at the man in front of him, not sure of what else to say. He tried to imagine what would have happened if those first two weeks had lasted four years, and imagined how terrified he'd be of Prince.

Vlad stood, abruptly changing the subject. "Ah, do you smell that? I believe breakfast has finished cooking."

Danny was about to ask how he knew that when a second Vlad stepped from the kitchen. Danny looked between the two of them, eyes wide, trying to process what was happening. The second Vlad set a plate down in front of Danny, which smelled delicious, but Danny couldn't take his eyes off of the two of them. His lips moved, but no sounds formed, and Danny wondered if he was dreaming.

The first Vlad nodded to the second one, who disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Danny's jaw dropped and he looked up at Vlad, hoping for some sort of explanation.

"That was a shade, Little Badger." Vlad said pleasantly, "A direct duplicate of myself created with Positgen's ectoplasm to do a certain task. In this case, it was to finish cooking so I could have this conversation with you."

Danny closed his mouth, opened it, and closed it again. "That's a thing? A thing people like us can do? You mean I could make a clone of myself to do the things I didn't want to? Holy _frick,_" He jumped to his feet, "That's so cool! You've got to teach me how to do that!"

Vlad blinked, "I- excuse me?"

"Teach me!" Danny continued, motioning wildly with his hands. "I mean you can do that and you've got like what, twenty years of experience? You've got to be able to do a lot of cool stuff! Please? I've never met anyone like me and- uh, I mean..." He moved his hands to the back of his neck, "Please show me how you did that."

"Daniel," Vlad reached out, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder. "It would be my honour to teach you."

"Really?"

"Of course," He pulled his hand back, "Eat your breakfast and meet me in the back garden. And bring Prince with you, of course."

Danny nodded, grabbed a fork, and started shoveling the overly-cheesy dish in his mouth. He finished it in record time and rushed back up to his room, pushing Jazz out of the way as he did so.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Prince tore off the piece of tape with his teeth, wrinkling his nose as it got stuck to his lip. He pulled it off, his face twisting further as it got stuck on his thumb. It took several long moments before he could get it off of his finger and onto his shirt, and even then it felt wrong. The tape holding his stained shirt together was uncomfortable at best, but Prince wasn't sure what else he could do. He didn't want to steal Danny's clothes; he'd already stolen these ones from someone in the Ghost Zone, and that was more than enough thievery for one lifetime.

The door was thrown open, and Prince quickly turned invisible. Danny stood there, breathing heavily. "Prince, come on, we're doing a thing!"

"I'm not," Prince said, switching back to visibility and returning to taping his sleeve. "I'm staying in here, where it's safe." _And there's no Positgen to wreck my clothes and eye._

Danny groaned, "Come on, it's just one thing! Vlad and Positgen are like us! Vlad made a _clone_ of himself and he can teach me to do it too! Probably. I think."

Prince narrowed his eyes. "Did Positgen suggest this?"

Danny frowned, "No. I did, and Vlad said he would. Prince, seriously, think of how cool this will be! Think of all the things they could teach us!"

"I said no." He crossed his arms, looking away in an attempt to ignore Danny's obvious disappointment. It didn't work.

"I know you don't like Vlad," Danny said, "And that Positgen hurt you, but I won't let anything happen to you. If they try to hurt you in any way we'll be out of there in seconds." Prince looked back up as Danny moved towards him, a hopeful smile on his face. "Just say the word. But until then, please?"

Prince licked his lips and looked away. "Sorry." He didn't want to go back to being near Positgen. Vlad he could handle, but Positgen knew too much. He'd already used Prince to set up that first meeting between the humans, and Prince was terrified of what would happen when he decided that wasn't enough.

Danny's hopefulness fell away to annoyance, which was quickly smothered. "So, I guess we're stuck like this then?"

Prince shrugged.

Danny moved the tape over, sitting on the end table beside the chair Prince was in. "Alright then. Guess we're staying around until the birds come."

Prince looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Danny shrugged, "I don't know about you, but I'm not sure how much I want to count on Lewis' sister and her tree branch. Plus, there's the whole thing with the whistle causing you to freeze up..." Prince held his arms closer to himself, "Why does it do that? Do you know?"

Prince hesitated before nodding slowly. "Yeah. I do."

"Sweet." Danny smiled, "So tell me then! Whatever it is, it's weird and I really don't like doing that to you."

Prince hesitated. Sam had never ordered him not to tell Danny about what she had done to the whistle, yet Prince had avoided it anyway. He might hate Sam, but she did care about Danny and he definitely needed more people like that. But then again, Danny had asked, and he probably wouldn't want to hang out with a bad person, so if Prince _did_ tell him then he'd only be helping Danny. That was what Sam had claimed she wanted to do. It wasn't Prince's fault if the thing which helped Danny the most was getting Sam as far away from him as possible.

Danny's smile was gone. "Prince? Are you okay?"

Prince nodded, throwing up his mental shields and trying to appear nervous. "I think she'll be really mad if I tell you. It might be better if I don't..."

Danny reached out, grabbing onto him, and Prince attempted to smother his guilt. "Who will be mad?"

"Sam," Prince whispered, and Danny pulled back. "I wasn't going to tell you because I know she's your friend but um, a week ago, she put a whole bunch of orders around it and... I'm sorry." He looked away, playing with a piece of tape that had come loose. That much had been mostly true, at least. Saying that he'd also been too stubborn to ask for Danny's help to fix it probably wouldn't have gotten him any sympathy.

Prince looked up when Danny didn't reply, and saw that the human had removed the whistle from around his neck. Danny, who was standing now, dangled it in front of his face and looked at it with narrowed eyes. "Prince, could you do me a huge favour?"

Prince nodded, watching the human curiously.

Danny pointed across the room, to where a window rested beside a dresser. "Could you go open that for me?"

"Um, okay." Prince floated for a coupled seconds before walking the rest of the way, pulling aside the curtains and opening up the window. "Why did you want me to-" He cut himself off with a yelp, jumping back as Danny whipped the whistle out the open window.

"Jazz was right," He muttered, "I can't believe she was _right,_ ugh!" He ran his hands down his face, turning to Prince. "If anything like this happens again then tell me, _please._ I don't want people to try and hurt you just because they can."

Prince licked his lips, a lump rising up in his throat as he tried to blink away the water building up in his eyes. "I- thank you, Danny." _I'm sorry for lying._

"No problem, what are friends for?" Danny's smile looked forced, "So, now that we've handled that and I don't have any protection from ghosts, what do you say to Vlad training us? I also kind of need a distraction so... you interested?"

Prince looked to the window, then back at Danny. "Okay."

"Yes!" Danny pumped his fist in the air, "Let's go!" He rushed back into the hallway. Prince looked back at the window before turning invisible and flying after him.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny slid into a clearing surrounded by plants, smiling up at the billionaire across from him. "Sorry I'm late! Stuff happened but I'm here now!"

Vlad smiled, "It's quite alright; it gave me time to prepare."

Danny looked around, "Prepare what? The bushes?"

"Creepy smiles?" Prince muttered, and Danny sent him a dirty look.

"You two sound surprisingly alike," Vlad observed, "Have you noticed that?" When neither of them replied, he continued. "Nonetheless, before we go any farther Daniel, I would like to know the extent of what you can do while separate."

"Oh!" Danny said, "Well there's um, invisibility, intangibility, and I overshadowed my friend Tucker once- wait, did you want me to show you? I have pretty good control of them. I probably can."

Vlad held up a hand, "That will come later. For the moment a basic overview will be quite fine. It's amazing how comfortable you are with your powers."

Danny nodded, "Thanks! Okay so then, uh... that's it! Those are all I have. Oh wait, no they're not." He smacked himself in the face, "I can sense ghosts!" As if summoned, his ghost sense came out in a quick puff. A second later, Positgen appeared beside Vlad.

"The kid's good," He said, and Danny saw Prince step back. "And you're still scared of me, aren't you?"

"No!" Prince snapped, moving back and raising his fists.

Vlad gave Positgen a pointed look, and the ghost frowned. "What? I thought he was trespassing, I caught him, and I ran some tests to figure out how he'd gotten in! I was in the right!"

"You tortured a teenager," Vlad said calmly, "And now you're teasing him because he's uncomfortable in your presence. I fail to find the amusement in this situation."

Positgen opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced with a look from Vlad. With a sigh he teleported away, returning a moment later and tossing a memory stick towards Prince. Prince stepped back and let it fall into the grass, making a face at it. "Here. That's all the information I got from you, and I've already edited the code for our barriers not to affect your ecto-signature- not that they did that in the first place, but apparently I must be _absolutely certain _that you aren't at any risk here."

Danny crossed his arms and glared at the other ghost. "Hey," He said, "Leave him alone." He crossed the area between them easily, jabbing a finger into Positgen's chest. "Prince is my friend," _jab,_ "Got that?" _Jab,_ "And if you _ever_ do anything to him again or even _think _about treating him this badly," He grabbed the ghost's shirt, pulling him down to eye level. "I will destroy you."

Vlad had started slowly clapping. Danny let go and took a couple steps back, rubbing the back of his neck. Prince came to stand beside him, a small smile on his face and memory stick in hand. "Don't encourage him!" Positgen whined, "Vlad, come on, that actually scared me!"

Danny's face lit up, "I'm scary? _Cool! _I scared a ghost!" He pumped a fist in the air, spinning around on one foot. "I am the ultimate!"

"Huh," Positgen said, "And now the fear is gone."

"If you're all finished," Vlad said, attracting the attention of the three of them. "Daniel, I find how quick you are to stand up to those threatening you simply marvelous! If you can hold onto that skill it will serve you extremely well in the years to come."

Danny blushed, "Thanks."

Vlad looked over at Positgen, and after a moment of staring at each other the two moved deeper into the garden. "Now, to test what you can do by yourself. Daniel, if you'll just follow me for a moment."

Danny nodded, grabbed Prince by the sleeve, and pulled the ghost after him. The two came to an abrupt stop as the bushes parted to reveal a huge outdoor football stadium. Danny looked over the green and gold seats with wide eyes as Vlad and Positgen approached the center, sharing another silent conversation before Positgen teleported away.

"Are you coming?" Vlad asked. Numbly, Danny nodded and tried to pull Prince forwards. The ghost wouldn't budge.

Frowning, Danny looked back at Prince. His eyes were huge and his skin had taken on a slight gray tone. His free hand was resting on the center of his chest, and Danny felt the emptiness feeling churn in his gut again. _That doesn't make any sense; he's right here._ "Hey," Danny said as gently as he could manage, "What's wrong?" Prince's lip trembled and he seemed to try and make himself smaller. "Prince?" He reached out, trying to grab the ghost's other hand.

"I'm not going in there," Prince whispered. Danny looked over his shoulder to see that Vlad was moving towards them.

Danny frowned, "Why not?"

"That's an arena," Prince whispered, "People always got hurt when I had to go in the arena."

"What's that supposed to- oh," Danny nodded, grabbing Prince's hands tighter as a wave of the ghost's terror nearly caused him to stumble. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Prince."

Prince pulled his hands away, moving back from Danny as he rubbed his knuckles together. "It's not me I'm worried about."

"Is there a problem?" Vlad asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Danny spun around, looked up at the man, and nodded. "Yeah. Uh... your... stadium thing's colour scheme is causing Prince actual physical pain so we should probably go somewhere else."

Vlad raised a somewhat offended eyebrow. Positgen appeared beside him, the same expression on his face. His face softened after a second, and Vlad's followed suit.

"Let's go back inside," He suggested. Danny nodded, grabbed Prince by his sleeve, and led the way out of the garden.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny and Prince had retreated back to their room. Vlad had hidden himself away in his lab, where he paced back and forth across the floor.

"So," Positgen said, leaning against a counter, "That could have gone better."

"Everything was _ready,_" Vlad said, "I had fifteen exercises planned and twenty more variants based on his potential skill level- but they wouldn't even enter the area!" He spun on a heel, pacing the other direction. "How, exactly, does someone end up with a fear of stadiums?"

"They have bad things happen in them?" Positgen frowned under Vlad's glare, "Well, I don't know what you want me to say!" That was a lie, of course, but the statement remained sound. "He's obviously been through a lot, and the human cares about him feeling safe enough to stop doing what he enjoys if Prince is threatened."

"Jack probably taught Daniel that complete sacrifice was _noble,_" Vlad spat, "That throwing everything you've worked for away because someone close to you isn't entirely happy is the best course of action. A ridiculous notion like that will get him killed!"

"Maybe it only extends to Prince," Positgen said, moving towards the human. "Think about how much we've given up for each other."

"They haven't even been together for two months!" He made a wild motion with his hand, nearly smacking Positgen across the face. "No, I'm certain of this. Daniel has been taught to give up his desires to make others happy and I will not stand for it."

"So it's a gut feeling, then? You have no proof?" He ignored the glare that comment earned him, "Vlad, you know I'm going to support you in whatever you decide to do, and I know you want to spend more time with the kid. But I honestly think you need to take a step back and realize that just because you had to deal with some bad people does not mean he had to as well."

"Jack Fenton nearly killed not only me, but also his own child." He turned completely towards Positgen, "He left me _alone_ in that hospital, and I have no doubt that he'd have done the same to Daniel! How did a fourteen-year-old boy even find himself in a situation with a ghost portal in the first place if not for a neglectful father?"

Positgen could think of several reasons, and was tempted to provide all of them. But he knew that look in Vlad's eyes, and so he calmly raised his hands. "Take a deep breath. I understand that this is personal to you, but you're getting worked up."

"I am _fine!_" Vlad lashed out, and Positgen could feel his energy drain away as Vlad's eyes blazed red. "But I refuse to let anyone else suffer at that man's hands! Daniel has his entire life ahead of him and I will _not_ let that man rob him of it!"

Positgen stepped back, moving away from Vlad. "I know you won't. Take a moment, you aren't thinking straight."

Vlad shook his head, and the drain on Positgen's energy stopped. He blinked, eyes returning to blue, and sat down in a chair. "I stand by that. I will not let him be hurt, _especially_ by Jack Fenton."

Positgen nodded, returning to the counter. "I know you won't." He could still hear echoes of Vlad's angry thoughts, and pictured him dancing with Maddie in reply. Prince and his human would be off to the side, both well dressed and uninjured. Vlad relaxed, and Positgen smiled. "You've got too much on the line to ever let that boy be hurt."

"But he's in danger every second Jack Fenton is near him," Vlad grabbed a strand of hair from his ponytail and pulled, "How can I keep him safe from that man when Daniel lives with his biggest threat?"

Positgen considered his options. He knew exactly what Vlad would want him to say, but on several levels it went against what he believed. And then he sighed, attracting Vlad's attention. "You do for him what your grandparents did for you." Vlad quickly looked up at that, "You find a way to get him out."

"Are you suggesting I kidnap the boy?"

Of course that would be his first thought. "No. Just because that worked for you doesn't mean it'll work for him. I'm suggesting you talk to him, see if you can get him to stay. After all," He grinned, "If the end result of Project Vengeance will be you stealing Jack's perfect family, why not add in a kid as well? Daniel Masters. Sounds _lovely, _doesn't it?"

Vlad smiled a genuine smile. "Yes, yes it does."

Positgen pushed away the voice in the back of his mind which screamed that he shouldn't have told Vlad just what he wanted to hear. In the end, it didn't matter; his morals would never be as important as his human was.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny watched as the notification for his group chat with Sam and Tucker popped up on the screen, waiting for it to stop ringing but making no move to answer it.

Prince, who was sitting on the end of his bed and rereading the book Jazz had given him, looked up at Danny with a frown. "You're ignoring your friends?"

Danny shrugged and switched his Skype to _do not disturb._ "Guess so."

Prince's frown deepened, and he scratched the sides of his face. "They were just trying to help."

"Do you always make excuses for the people who hurt you, or are you just doing it because they're my friends?"

Prince shrugged, and Danny set his laptop off to the side. He moved towards the ghost, waiting for him to speak.

"I don't want something to happen because they're mad at you." Prince said, fiddling with a page in his book. "They're the only other ones who know about us. That gives them a lot of power if they decide to get rid of me."

"They won't do anything, I promise." Danny said quickly, "I just don't want to deal with them right now. I _will_ talk to them about what they did, but it's something that needs to be done in person, and I don't think I'll be able to resist telling them off until then. Okay?" Prince nodded, and Danny shifted back to his original position. "Good."

For a few moments there was silence before Prince spoke up again. "Danny?"

"Hm?" He looked up, "What is it?"

Prince held up the memory stick Positgen had given him. "Do you know what this is?"

Thankful for the distraction, Danny motioned for Prince to come sit beside him. "Yep. Give it here." Prince handed it over, looking over Danny shoulder as he plugged it into his computer. He clicked on the application it brought up, watching as it brought up a picture of Prince's face injured face, ectoplasm dripping from his split lip, and look several bolded words on a silver background.

**Name - Undetermined**

**Obsession - Undetermined**

**Gender - Presumed Male**

**Physical Age - 14-15**

**Chronological Age - Undetermined**

**Status - Undetermined**

**Ectoplasmic Typing - Superior Pure**

**Core Element - Ice**

**Power Level - 5.24**

**Tests Run**

**Footage**

"Well," Danny said, "I understand absolutely none of this. Prince?"

"Why am I a Superior Pure?" He wrinkled his nose, "I'm supposed to be like, a Lower Pure. Danny, that's wrong."

"I don't even know what that means," Danny said, quickly changing the name on the file to Prince Phantom. "Are you going to tell me?"

"It's what type of ectoplasm your core works best with," Prince said, tapping the center of his chest. "Superior Pure is the highest, and Rough is the lowest. If you're somewhere where the type is too far off to work with your core malfunctions and bad things happen."

"That's specific," Danny replied, going to the status area and changing the Undetermined to Massive Nerd.

"Well _I_ don't know what happens," Prince said, "I'm not stupid. I don't go into places with Rough ectoplasm. That stuff is _nasty._ Once, my Mom and Dad were messing with some of it and they didn't seal it properly." A bit of fear pricked at Danny's mind, "That, um... that wasn't a good day."

"But you don't know what happens?" Danny pressed, and Prince shrugged.

"I was five. I didn't know what was going on."

"Fair enough," He looked at the Chronological Age section. "How old are you?"

Prince frowned, "Are you filling it out for him?"

"Nope." Danny popped the 'p'. "He's not getting this back. I'm mostly doing this because it's a distraction. So, age?"

Prince shrugged. "I don't know. That never seemed important."

"So you're _not_ fifteen?"

Again, Prince shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. I know I'm two years older than my sister, does that help?"

Danny looked back at his laptop, nodding and pretending it did. _This might be the most I've ever heard Prince say about his family. _He hesitated for a second before turning back to Prince. "What was your family like?"

Prince looked at his lap, playing with his taped-up sleeve for several seconds. "They were... they really great. My dad was this amazing man who would do anything for us. He was really strong, but my mom was too. She was better with ectoplasm, but he had a sword and other cool tricks. And my little sister..." His voice cracked, and Prince stopped. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked away, his form shaking. "They didn't deserve any of this."

Awkwardly, Danny reached an arm around Prince's shoulders. With his other hand, he brought up a browser and searched up some cute animal videos. "Hey Prince, want to see something cool?"

An hour later, Danny replaced the file photo's of Prince with one he'd taken on his cellphone. Prince had placed his hand on Danny's laptop screen, and looked like he was trying to pet the rabbit on it. It looked _much_ better than the injured version who'd been there before. Prince was still on his left side, shoving his face into the book. It was peaceful.

There was a knock at his door, and in a panic Danny shoved Prince off his bed. "It's open!" He called, throwing a blanket over Prince. The ghost didn't even look up from his book.

Vlad entered, a package in hand and closing the door behind him. "Hello, Daniel," He said kindly, and looked down at the mound of blankets. "Hello, Prince."

"Hi," Prince mumbled, shifting the blankets off his head but making no move to stop reading.

Vlad crossed the room and placed the package on the table beside the ghost. "I noticed that your shirt, among other things, had been destroyed prior to our initial meeting. So I took the initiative and bought these for you last night." Prince looked up at that, and Danny raised an eyebrow. "I didn't have your exact measurements, so they may be a bit loose, but I am certain that they will be significantly better than holding a sleeve together with scotch tape."

Prince looked up at the package and pushed it away. "I don't want them."

"Prince!" Danny shifted and kicked him lightly between the shoulder blades. "Of course you want them!"

"No I don't," Prince said, standing up and using his finger to hold the place in his book. "Don't tell me that I do. I like the clothes that _I_ picked. I don't want anyone else's."

Vlad nodded, "I can understand that. However, they look exactly the same, and it seems like you're trying to find problems where there are none."

Prince shook his head, "You aren't listening!" He looked back at Danny, seeming genuinely upset, and shook his head again. "I don't want to fight with anyone right now." He turned invisible and sunk through the floor.

"I'm really sorry about him," Danny said quickly, moving to his feet. "He's not normally that bad! Well, he kind of is, but-"

"Daniel," Vlad said, holding up a hand. "I don't mind. I did want to talk with you, however." He stepped back, motioning to the door. "Shall we take a walk?"

Danny eagerly nodded, following Vlad quickly out of the room. "I'm sorry about earlier," He said, "I didn't know Prince would freak out that badly. I was _really _looking forward to you teaching me, and-"

"Daniel," Vlad cut him off, "It's perfectly alright. Though that was disappointing, it is not his fault and you have no need to apologize on his behalf."

Danny nodded. "Right. Okay." Vlad slowed his pace down slightly, making it easier to match. "You can call me Danny, you know. I normally only get called Daniel when I'm in trouble."

"Hm, fair point," Vlad nodded, looking down at him. "Are you often in trouble?"

"Not really," Danny shrugged, "I'm too scared of my parents for that." At Vlad's alarmed look, he continued, "I mean I'm scared of them yelling or arguing about me! And it's not so much that I'm scared as it makes me really uncomfortable. And my parents don't argue in front of me and Jazz anymore."

"I see," Vlad said, still sounding concerned. "Anymore?"

"Well, they used to argue a lot about stupid stuff when I was a kid," Danny said, awkwardly attempting to clear his parents' names in the eyes of their old friend. "But something happened when I was seven so now they don't. Jazz and I just don't break the rules because, uh, we suck." He shrugged again, "Yeah. We're boring."

Vlad nodded. "Alright." He paused for a second before changing the subject, "Do you have any plans for your future, Little Badger?"

Danny grinned as he heard his nickname. "I'm going to be an astronaut."

"That's quite a goal."

"Believe me, I know." Danny groaned, "There's so much _math_ and it makes me want to shove a fork in my eye."

"Please don't." Vlad placed a hand on Danny's shoulder, stopping them both. "Do you struggle with math?"

"It is my mortal enemy and I'm going to fight it." Danny mumbled, and immediately regretted it. _Darn it, Fenton, you idiot, you can't say that to an adult! I also probably shouldn't have said the fork thing. Ugh, great, now I've ruined everything._

But much to his surprise, Vlad laughed. "Good luck with that," He said, and adopted a more serious tone. "You know, dear boy, mathematics was my major in university. Perhaps I could help you in some way?"

"Really? You'd do that?" Danny's excitement pulled back, and he frowned. "Why are you being so nice to me? You just met me yesterday, and I'm like, fourteen."

"I'm going to ignore what you were implying with that last bit," Vlad's hand squeezed his shoulder before he pulled it back. "I will admit that initially, my interest in you stemmed purely from the fact we were both connected to a ghost. But I see potential in you, dear boy, and even if it's just in the purely human parts our lives I want nothing more than to learn more about you. You're highly intelligent, ambitious, more than willing to stand up for what you believe in, and care deeply about those around you. You have the potential to be someone simply amazing, and I would like nothing more than to see you reach that goal."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, trying to hide how his face turned red. "Thanks. I, uh, just hope I don't disappoint you."

"Little Badger," Vlad said, "You could never disappoint me."

Still blushing furiously, Danny took a deep breath in and nodded. _This is almost too good to be true. _"So, um, what about you? I mean, I don't know anything about you."

Vlad smiled, "Yes, I suppose you don't. There isn't much to tell, however; I was raised by my grandparents, have a sister named Carmilla who is older by three years, and went to university with your parents."

"Oh, neat," Danny said, "That's cool. But I meant like, _you_ personally. Did you always want to be billionaire?"

"I never even considered it a possibility," Vlad replied, "In fact, when I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher."

Danny grinned, "Good thing I came along, then. Now you've got a student!"

Vlad grinned back, messing Danny's hair. "Yes Little Badger, it certainly is."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Is this seat taken?"

Prince wrinkled his nose and looked up, away from his book and towards Positgen. "It is now."

Rolling his eyes, the other ghost came and sat beside Prince, who'd returned to his book. He moved over, closer to the edge of the roof, and thankfully Positgen didn't follow.

"I _am_ sorry," Positgen said.

Prince scoffed, "No you're not."

"If I had known it was you-"

"You still would've hurt me. Because you suck." He looked up from his book, "So go _away._"

Positgen didn't. He sighed and looked up at the sky. "I'd like to apologize for ordering you before. I do realize that my actions were wrong on several levels and I should not have taken them. So, I'm sorry."

Prince slammed his book closed, "Apology not accepted. Go away."

"As tempting as you make it seem, no." There was a minute of awkward silence, filled only with Prince's glare. "You're impossibly stubborn, you do realize that right?"

"And you're a jerk," Prince said, "So how about you make this easy for us both and just _go away?"_

Positgen shook his head. "I can't do that. Regardless of what you believe, I do have morals."

"Good for you," Prince said as insincerely as he could manage.

Positgen didn't comment on his insult. "You see, my first goal will always be keeping Vlad safe and happy. I will do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal. And the fact that you and Danny exist lights him up in a way I didn't know was possible. I've never seen Vlad so happy."

Prince raised an eyebrow, "Okay? Why should I care?"

"Because your human feels the same way." Positgen shifted position, turning his entire body towards Prince. "Prince Phan- no," He frowned, "Sorry. I was going to be formal but that might have developed into an order. I repeat; I am _terribly_ sorry, but I wasn't sure how else to go about revealing your status to him. Anyway, I propose a truce. For our humans' sakes." He held out a hand.

Prince made no move to grab it. "I think you've forgotten that I don't trust you. At all. Go shake your own hand; I'm not touching it."

Positgen pulled his hand back. "That's a wise decision. I suppose your time with a certain group of one-eyed Superior Pure cores taught you that?"

"One-eyed what?" Prince pulled back, dropping the book, and staring at Positgen's neutral expression. "How- you did- _I'm not going back there!_"

"I know," Positgen said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "But they're getting antsy. They want you back, and they're more willing to take risks. They contacted me, asked me to help them. I'm outside of their rules, like you, so I-"

"Hold on, wait," Prince interrupted, trying not to appear as nervous as he felt. "You're what about their rules?"

"You don't know?" Positgen frowned, lowering his hands. "Of course. They wouldn't tell you. Well, it was decided during negotiations after the war that since their abilities are so limited on the human realm, humans are outside of their rules. And since we are connected to a human, we are outside of their rules. This only lasts as long as the human survives, of course, but that's obvious."

Prince swallowed. _As long as the human survives._ He could feel Danny a little ways away, enjoying himself, and his core thump painfully in his chest. _As long as the human survives. _"They wanted you to help them... by killing Danny."

"No!" Positgen shook his head, "I would never do something like that! I was supposed to find out information about where you were, _or else._ Though, now that you mention it that was probably what they were going for. Certainly explains why they were so willing to let me use their other assets." His expression twisted and he turned back to Prince, disgust still obvious on his face. "I can't believe I didn't realize that. I wouldn't have done it if they had, you have to believe me! I would never have actually _killed_ someone! And I doubt they even know about him. They blamed the fact that you were hidden away on something done by the Master of Time."

Prince wrinkled his nose. _"Oh." _He didn't want to deal with Timey ghosts. He crossed his arms, mirroring the image of his mother his mind had helpfully supplied. He could clearly remember her annoyance whenever the Time Master worked his way into a conversation.

"That's it? All that and you just give me a disgusted 'oh'?" Positgen rolled his eyes, "Whatever. You get my point. They're after you, and he's going to be their central target."

Prince adjusted himself so that he was facing Positgen, picking the book back up as he did so. "Why are you telling me this?"

Positgen grinned, "Because your very existence makes the most important person in the world to me happier than I've ever seen him, and I don't want to do anything to ruin that."

"So you're doing this for his sake."

"Not just him," Positgen took on an awkward tone, "You see... I don't know how much you remember about the war, but after it was all over- and I mean _all_ of it- there was a small group who thought that your father and everyone who fought with him- the Royal Army, I mean- had deserved better. I mean, if Warrior Boy, Dark, and the Ancients hadn't shown up none of this would have happened. So they started what we call the Royal Sympathizers. Because your side didn't deserve any of this." He grinned a huge grin, "So to meet someone who was actually there and on the side I support is simply _amazing!_ I never thought I'd have a chance like this!"

Prince leaned so far back that he fell over. "That's weird," He said quickly, sitting back up and moving away from Positgen. "You're weird. All the Royal Sympathizers are weird. How can you say that you support our side when you weren't even _there?"_

"Weird we may be," Positgen admitted, "But we've picked up a lot of skills from the Royal Army." He stood, lit up his hand with violet ectoplasm, and Prince watched as a purple-tinted dome appeared around them. "Behold; my own adaptation of the King's Central Barrier. Guaranteed to block any Trace, of any strength."

"Block a Trace," Prince muttered, looking around. "Wait, does that mean- does that mean if I say _their_ name, they won't know I did it?"

Positgen grinned, the violet glow leaving his hand. "Better; you could curse them out by individual name and they wouldn't even know you've mentioned them."

Prince could feel a weight leaving his shoulders and his core hum lightly in his chest. "So if I'm here, they can't find me?"

"As far as I know, they still believe you reside in Amity Park." The purple ectoplasm dissipated, "And they only managed to gather that much from rumors. They've never actually seen you there. I don't know how you've managed it, but I shouldn't have expected any less. Your parents would be so proud of you."

Prince's form shook and he blinked furiously, trying to keep the tears filling up in his eyes from rolling down his cheeks. "I have to go," He whispered, and phased down to the floor below them.

It took nearly an hour before Prince had composed himself enough to return to Danny's room. The human was gone, the blankets still lying in a pile on the floor, and the clothes Vlad had gotten for him still sitting in their box on the table. Prince set his book down, threw the blankets back on Danny's bed, pulled them into a much neater looking position, and ripped the box open.

These clothes were softer than the ones he had on, and there were three of each. They didn't have the waxy feeling of being treated with ectoplasm. _This isn't like before. Nobody's forcing me to wear these. I can do what I want. This is what I want to do._ Maybe Vlad had just been trying to do a nice thing. Maybe it wasn't a trap.

Maybe he was like Danny.

It took him ten minutes to change clothes, and five more to find Danny. He and Vlad were in the room that Prince was fairly sure was called Vlad's study. Danny was sitting in a chair in front of a computer while Vlad paced behind him. He was ranting, saying something about how far downhill the school system had gone and about how no one could be expected to work in such impossible conditions. Danny seemed to be hanging on to every word. Positgen sat in a chair a little ways away, eating some sort of snack which stained his fingers orange.

Danny was looking his way well before Prince turned visible, a goofy smile on his face. "Hey, Prince!" He waved a hand, "Vlad's pointing out all the flaws in my school system."

Vlad stopped pacing for a second, looking towards Danny. "And there are _far_ too many. Had you been my son, I would never have let you step foot in a place so harmful to your mental and physical health!"

Danny shrugged, "It's better than the one in Elmerton. Like, Casper sucks, but that one's just as bad only it's apparently kind of moldy."

"How is it not condemned, then?" Vlad replied, "Who in their right mind would ever send their child there?!"

"I think they don't have the money to go anywhere else," Positgen suggested, offering a small smile in Prince's direction before giving Vlad a pointed look.

Vlad frowned and turned to face Prince, looking him over. "Are those the clothes I bought for you?"

Prince nodded, licking his lips. "Thank you. So, uh, you know how you were going to train Danny?" He could see and feel the hope which quickly covered his human. "Is there any chance that you, uh, could still do that?"

"Yes," Vlad said, calm but obviously curious, "That offer was never closed."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to!" Danny said quickly, standing up and moving towards Prince. "I know that stadium freaked you out, and you're still kind of iffy on Vlad-"

"Well, yeah," Prince cut him off, "But he's kind of nice? He got me these." He held up his arm, showing off a sleeve before he quickly lowered it. "So maybe I was wrong. Sorry." Prince's mouth went dry. _I don't want to do this._ "So, maybe, you could train him? Like you guys wanted to do?"

Vlad was still looking at him curiously. "Daniel," He said. "It's your call, Little Badger."

Danny looked around the room, smiled, and nodded. "If you're all okay with it, let's do it! I want to learn how to make another me!"

Prince looked past Vlad, only half hearing what he was saying to Danny about duplication being difficult. Positgen was watching him, a small smile on his face. "Thank you," He mouthed.

Prince threw up his mental shield and nodded back. _I'm not doing this for you._ Danny grabbed him by the sleeve and started to pull him out of the room. _I'm not doing this for any of you._ Vlad stopped Danny, reminding him that the ghosts probably should stay invisible so the others didn't see them. _I'm doing this for me._

It left a sick feeling in his stomach to know that the Observants would be proud.

* * *

*Wraps Prince up in a blanket* Small suffering child. Tiny baby.

Also, have I mentioned that I love Sam in this story? I feel like I should. I love her character so much.

Now, sometimes everything I touch turns to Badger Cereal. Or Puns. Or Angst. Oh look, we've gotten two out of three so far. Hm, I wonder what'll happen in the next chapter? :P

Telling me who your favourite characters are increases the chance of me writing scenes from their point of view. And of course, and form of love for this story is wonderful! Rude people, however, will be given Ecto Acne by their best friend.

I'm looking at you, random guest who told me to kill myself. Get a hobby, dude.


End file.
